406 



Farming of Surrey. 



tance of the railroads, very little stock is kept besides sheep, 

 which is to be accounted for by the facility of procuring dung 

 from London. It is the custom to manure for wheat and turnips 

 alone ; artificial manures are but little used, with the exception 

 of superphosphate, which is in general use for turnips, 3 cwts. 

 per acre being a customary dressing. Sainfoin thrives indis- 

 criminately upon all soils, however poor, provided the subsoil be 

 of chalk ; its roots will even penetrate to the depth of many feet, 

 in search of the calcareous soil which affords them food. It is 

 the custom to sow sainfoin with barley, in the same way as 

 clover. It remains about 10 or 12 years; after which the land 

 is broken up (sometimes pared and burned), and sown with 

 oats, &c. About a tenth part of the farm is devoted to this 

 crop ; and in the eastern part of the county, or wherever there 

 is the convenience of railway carriage, the hay is taken to the 

 London market, and is sold for about as much per ton as clover. 

 Two-thirds of the crop are disposed of in this way, the remainder 

 being consumed on the farm. 



But few sheep are bred in the neighbourhood : around Banstead 

 there may perhaps be as many as 1200 breeding ewes, a number 

 hardly worthy of mention ; and the Southdown is almost universal 

 here, as well as in other parts of the county. 



With the exception of the growth of sainfoin, there is nothing 

 in the farming to separate this from other districts. The course 

 of cropping which has been given, although it is that which is 

 most commonly pursued, does not pretend to include the whole 

 practice ; since where chalk, sand, and clay are all found inter- 

 mixed, the system becomes as various as the soils. 



TJie Hoj) District of Farnliam. — The quantity of hops grown 

 in this locality is small, compared to that of the larger districts 

 ^ of Kent and Sussex: it is nevertheless presumed that the follov/- 

 ing details will not be out of place, the Farnham hops having 

 long maintained a name in the market which authorizes the 

 noting here some of those circumstances which conduce to their 

 superiority. 



For much information on this subject the writer is indebted to 

 Mr. Paine, a gentleman well known as an eminent hop-grower, 

 and a most enterprising farmer. 



The uncommon fertility of this locality is to be attributed to 

 the proximity of the various strata, and to the mineral fertilizers 

 which they contain. The London clay, the Bagshot sand, and 

 the several members of the cretaceous formation ; the chalk, the 

 greensands, and the gait, successively appear at the surface, 

 within a very small area. The presence of a fertilizing marl has 

 been long known here, and the benefit of its application to the 

 land has been practically recognised for many years, as is evident 



