2G8 
Farming of Kent. 
acre; rates from &5. to \0s. ; ti;hes 10*. to 12s. per acre. Here is no 
summer fallowing; for no sooner is one crop ofiF than in goes another 
of perhaps plants which have already attained part of their giowth. 
The expenditure in manual labour is also very great. This is for the 
most part done by piece-work, at rates which enable a good workman 
to earn 3s. or 3s. 6</. a day the year round. A great number of women 
(chiefly Irish and Wehh) are also employed, who get about I«. to Is. &d. 
a day. 
In this district, lying within 10 or 15 mifesof the metropolis, it is 
usual to sell tbe greatest part of the wheat-=traw, and as much hay as 
can be spared, and to purchase manure in return, at a cost of 10^. or 
12s. a waggon, or 4s. to 6s. a cart-load. It is found that very few of the 
light manures answer so well here as on some other soUs. Gypsum, 
bone-dust, guano, &c., are not to be depended upon, and salt has been 
found to render this land more stiff and less productive, perhaps from 
destroying too many of those industrious underdrainers — the worms, 
and also by causing the laud, already inclined to wetness, to imbibe and 
retain a greater portion of moisture. 
" Farmers are becoming more and more alive to the importance of 
liquid manure. I have been induced to make several tanks of brick- 
work lined witb cement, for catching the drainage of my cow-house, 
stables, yards, &c. The expense, I believe, was repaid the first year, 
and the manure is incomparably before guano or any light dressings. 
^Manure from fellmongers and tanners' pits, consisting of lime-washings 
and the fleshy refuse of hides, &c., is considerably used, but it is various 
in its qualities and effects. Sugar-scum is employed as a fertilizer in 
the neighbourhood of Cudham, Shoreham. Farniogham, &c., principally 
for turnips, at the rate of 4 or 5 tons per acre ; costs in Ix)ndon 10s. to 
15s. a ton. Some of the best and most experienced farmers have con- 
tinued to use it for many years with satisfactory results, but of late there 
have been complaints of its being adulterated. Among those who have 
had much experience of this manure may be named Mr. Mosam of 
Cudiiam, Mr. Waring of Cbelsfield, Mr. Tonge of Cherening, Messrs. 
Love, Brookers, and Spain, of Shoreham, &c. 
The neighbourhood of Cudham, Famborough, Chelsfield, and Or- 
pington, lies between Bromley and Holmesdale ; it is hilly, verging on 
chalk, consisting of turnip, barley, and sainifoin land, not very rich, 
but when straw can be got, yielding well in grain. The common turn- 
wrist wheel-plough is used almost exclusively, and the land ploughed 
plain. There is but very little meadow-land, consequently but few 
cattle are bred ; but large numbers of sheep, chiefly Southdowns and 
half-breds, yielding good mutton and excellent wool. The usual course 
of crops are — 1. Turnips; 2. Barley; 3. Clover; 4. Wheat, and some- 
times oats, with occasional substitutions of pea;, tares, beans, &c. The 
part here described forms a connecting link Lctween what may be called 
the Lewisham level and 
" Jlie Holmesdale Valley, which is one of the most fertile as well 
as delightful valleys in the delightful county of Kent, comj)rising the 
parishes of Westerham, Brasted, Sandwich. Chevening, Sevenoaks, 
Oiford, Shoreham. Kemsiug, Seal, Eynsford, Farningham, Horton 
