582 = 316 Practical Agriculture. 
CHAPTER VII. 
Agricultural 
itinerary. 
Soils of Kent. 
Rotation on 
heavy land in 
tlie north. 
Canarv-seed. 
Crops in the 
Isle of 
Sheppey. 
Characteristic Crops which prevail ix the Rural 
Economy op the Country. — Different Courses of 
Cropping, as affected by Climate and Locality. — 
Succession of Crops. 
These three heads of the syllabus, comprehensive as they are, 
may be conveniently grouped together and treated of side bv 
side in their relation to different districts of the kingdom ; and 
I propose to sketch the principal features of the husbandry, in a 
brief but discursive agricultural itinerary of some of the counties 
of England. I commence in the south-east ; thence travelling 
westward, and in succession traversing some of the selected 
midland and eastern counties, and terminating the survey in the 
north. 
Kent. — From the suburbs of the metropolis to the white cliffs 
which gave Albion her name, stretches Kent, with its central 
" garden of England ;" having three great divisions of soil, — the 
chalk, with detached portions of London clay, and a narrow 
belt of the tenacious gault, running through almost the entirt 
length of the county along its northern or Thames boundary ; th( 
greensand, or Kentish rag, forming a parallel band also through 
the whole length of the county ; and the Wealden district, com- 
prising the valley of the Weald clay and the iron or Hasting! 
sand : to which are to be added the alluvial plain of Romne^ 
Marsh, and the rich marsh lands bordering the Thames, th( 
Medvvay, the Rother, the Stour, and the Swale rivers. On th( 
heavy lands of the first district the farms range from 100 tc 
600 acres, with farm-buildings more of the old-fashioned thai 
convenient type. A common rotation of crops is tares, barle; 
or canary-seed, beans, wheat, clover, wheat. The tares are no 
usually fed off by sheep, but made into hay or cut green for soilinf 
horses or cattle. Canary-seed (grown for feeding cage-birds 
large quantities being exported) is drilled in March or April, will 
6 gallons of seed per acre. This plant likes a rather tenaciou 
soil, as on rich light land it is liable to become root-fallen. I 
grows nearly as high as wheat ; and coming late to harvest, ii 
September or October, the straw is frequently injured by ex 
posure to rain, and so is used chiefly for litter, thougli the chaff an' 
husk are good food for horses. The yield may be 3 to 4 qrs. pc 
acre, and the price varies much, from 50s. up to 100s. per quarto 
In the Isle of Sheppey, famed for its exquisite mutton, tile 
drainage has worked wonders for the clay. The old sii-cours 
was summer fallow, with dung, chalk, or lime, followed b 
