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Cropping of a Derelict Estate m Sussex. [May, 



CROPPING OF A DERELICT ESTATE 

 IN SUSSEX. 



E. H. B. Jesse, B.Sc, N.D.A., 



East Sussex Agricultural Executive Committee. 



The name Peacehaven has been given to a tract of land 

 ■originally forming part of Hoddern Farm, Piddinghoe, lying 

 between Newhaven and Brighton in the very heart of the 

 South Downs. The greater part of this estate was taken 

 possession of and farmed by the East Sussex Agricultural 

 Executive Committee in May, 1917, and other parts at later 

 dates. 



The soil is extremely variable as, although resting on the 

 South Downs, a considerable portion of it, probably some 

 300 acres, consists of an extremely light, poor sand, an almost 

 equal area consists of the thin chalky loam so common on the 

 South Downs, and at one place there is a " clay pocket " 

 where the soil is extremely heavy and " unkind." 



Previous Method of Farming. — Before 1915 the land was 

 farmed according to the usual South Down practice, but as it 

 had been for some years in the market, and was eventually 

 sold for building purposes, it cannot be said that it had been 

 cultivated in such a way as to leave any appreciable amount of 

 residual fertility. 



For about 20 years a flock of South Down sheep had been 

 kept, and the system of farming seems to have depended 

 entirely on the flock, but towards the latter part of this period, 

 as dairying spread in East Sussex, cows were also kept. 



For a considerable period no fertilisers of any description 

 were used on this farm, and, as it had probably been 

 " sheeped " for centuries, there is no doubt that the soil, like 

 so much other poor hill land, had been " sheeped out " or 

 depleted of all available phosphates. 



Season 1916. — During the season 1916, practically no farm- 

 ing was carried out on the land, and; the Committee were in- 

 formed that the produce from the greater part of the land was 

 actually sold for £'100, so that the quantity of food produced 

 from it in 1916 was practically negligible. 



Season 1917. — In January, 1917, two of the best known 

 surveyors in Sussex described the land as derelict. 



The Committee made every effort to arrange for the cultiva- 

 tion of this land but it soon became apparent to them that, if 



