27-2 
Farming of Kent. 
" The soil of Mid- Kent varies materially ; though perhaps it may he 
classified, if not among the light, yet certainly among those which are 
free-working and friable. Upon the rag-stone ' rock the soil is gene- 
rally of a very productive and valuable kind, largely occupied by hops 
and fruit ; and w ithin a semicircle of a few miles' radius south of Maid- 
stone, occurs the chief plantations of Kentish filberts. These are care- 
fully cultivated and pruned back, not allowed to exceed 5 or 6 feet in 
height, and are kept of a basin-like shape. The crop is uncertain, 
sometimes realizing a large sum per acre, and is sent principally to the 
London market. The land lying upon this formation is mostly sound 
and dry, the porous nature of the rocky subsoil freely admitting the 
escape of water. A large proportion of the hops grown in this district 
are of the far-famed ' Golding ' variety ; and in consequence of their 
strength and aromatic richness, command high prices in the market. 
Upon heavier and wetter soils a less precarious kind of hop is cultivated ; 
such as the ' Grape,' ' Jones,' and other hardy varieties. From the 
well known superiority of the Mid-Kent hops they are much sought after 
by the great London brewers, and are very generally packed in bags. 
The great drawback to the planters' success in this district is the greater 
liability of the finer sorts of hops to blights, particularly the mould; 
for while the coarser and more hardy kinds in the Weald are frequently 
free, this disease for several successive seasons blights more or less the 
fairest prospects. 
" There is nothing like a general rotation of crops in this district. 
Some manage to get good crops of wheat (from 4 to 5 quarters per acre 
and upwards) in each alternate year, by the intermediation of green 
crops — chiefly clover and tares. These last are frequently carted home 
for soiling : the land, after being well cultivated and manured either 
with dung, rape-dust, guano, &c., is often sown with turnips, the arti- 
ficial manures being generally drilled with the seed. A good crop of 
turnips — not unfrequently swedes — is thus procured after tares. Tur- 
nips, being fed by sheep, wiih oil-cake, the land is again in condition 
for wheat, sown usually about November or December, or later. I have 
known this year upwards of 5 quarters of wheat per acre grow n u])on 
rather an inferior soil thus treated. While a large portion of the swedes 
are consumed by sheep on the ground, the remainder are eaten by cattle 
in yards. Gardner's turnip-cutter has become an almost universal 
appendage to the sheep-fold. One fact should be observed in relation 
to our position ; viz., our southerti situation. While in the north 
swedes must be sown early in May, in Norfolk before its end, but with 
us we frequently sow late in June; and even the last year, in many 
respects so unfavourable to vegetation, I knew a good crop of swedes 
and the yellow-hybrid turnip (the latter obtained the prize at the last 
Maidstone show) that were not sown till the 2nd of July. I mention 
this merely to show what the double-crop system will do. 
" Of course great improvements have taken place in this county since 
Boys's survey ; but were I to state that, like the greater part of England, 
more has been done to increase the fertility of the soil within these last 
ten years than in the other thirty, I should probably be not far wide of 
the mark : the wet soils, of course, are those evincing the greatest im- 
