Farming of Surrey. 



403 



The fallows are principally long fallows, except that in some 

 cases tares are grown for soiling horses and cattle ; swedes and 

 mangold are occasionally grown but not frequently, as the stiff 

 land will not admit of being folded, and the practice of carting 

 roots to the sheep in yards has not as yet been adopted to any 

 extent. Occasionally wheat is omitted after the long fallow, 

 which remains througli the winter, and in the spring is sown 

 with barley. The crop thus obtained is generally excellent and 

 of good quality ; the land also is improved by its rest from the 

 too frequent growth of wheat, the next crop of which is greatly 

 benefited thereby. When it is intended to treat a portion of 

 the fallow in this way, it is the custom in the autumn to plough 

 the land in 5 bout ridges ; this admits of the barley being 

 drilled with the Suffolk drill, without the necessity of treading, 

 as the horses can always be made to walk in the furrows. 



Adjoining the Thames on the northern portion of the county, 

 is a fertile, sandy loam, and gravelly soil. Here the fields are 

 20 to 40 acres in extent ; the farms average about 200 acres, at 

 a rental of 305. to 40^. per acre ; rates are 75. in the pound, and 

 rent charge 5^. to 65. per acre. The farms are generally held 

 by lease of 7 to 14 years. 



Tn some cases the 4-course system is adopted, but more 

 generally it is lengthened into a 5-course, thus : — 



1, Turnips ; 2, Barley ; 3, Clover or Seeds ; 4, Wheat ; 5, 

 Barley. 



Occasionally when the land is become what is termed 

 " clover-sick," peas or beans are sown after the first barley crop, 

 and are found to make a good preparation for wheat. As in 

 other districts, where the land is not too heavy, turnips, sv/edes, 

 and mangold are grown upon the fallow, green crops are also 

 sown for folding or soiling. In the case of trifolium incaniatum, 

 which is grown to a great extent, it is the custom merely to 

 scarify the land, and after burning or carting off the barley- 

 stubble to sow 15 or 20 lbs. of seed per acre. This is done in 

 September, and in the succeeding spring the trifolium is either 

 folded or soiled in time to prepare the land for swedes. 



Very few oxen are kept. Southdown sheep are purchased at 

 the fairs, in numbers regulated by the growth of roots, cScc. On 

 some of the farms from 100 to 150 cows are kept, and the milk 

 sent to the various stations of the South-Western Railway, and 

 conveyed to the Waterloo terminus for the supply of the London 

 market. The proportion of meadow-land in this district is 

 large — a great breadth having been appropriated for this purpose 

 on the banks of the rivers which Avere before mentioned, and in 

 consequence of the frequency of floods the land could not be 

 better applied. The water of the Mole is used for irrigation 



VOL. XIV. 2 E 



