Agriculture of Hertfordshire. 
275 
cost of 2s. Qd. and a quart of beer for a hundred bushels. Soot 
is said to bring on the wheat gradually up to harvest, guano to 
force and keep it green and growing too long. Soot is, however, 
very liable to adulteration with sawdust .charred by copperas 
and with ground cinders, &c, and the growth it induces under 
these circumstances is much more gradual than is desira ble! 
Two cwts. of guano sown at seed-time, or in January or February 
instead of April, is found to be a better and safer manure. 
Wheat is rolled or clod-crushed in spring to set the young plant 
and make it tiller. It is not hoed unless the land is foul, but 
it is sometimes harrowed to destroy annual weeds. Red varieties 
are the safest, though after favourable seasons white wheats come 
more into favour. Mixed white and red seed is liked, and sells 
readily. On light chalk and gravel land red Lammas wheat is 
esteemed for its soft fine straw, suited for plaiting. The straw 
is drawn by hand from the sheaf in the barn, and after the ears 
have been cut off it is sold to the villagers at Id. or l^d. a lb., 
sometimes realizing nearly as much per acre as the corn. Twenty- 
eight bushels of wheat is considered an average crop. 
Oats. — The wheat-stubble is ploughed, with a furrow of 7 
inches by 3 horses soon after Christmas : the land, if ploughed 
earlier, is liable to get overrun with grasses. Black Tartarian 
oats are drilled as early as February, and the red or early grey 
oats as late as the 1st of April. Canadian oats are unproductive 
except on very rich land. Scarifying previous to drilling is seldom 
needed : neither dung nor artificial manure is generally applied, 
though no crop yields a more certain return for outlay in guano 
than oats ; 2|- cwts. per acre applied at the 'time of sowing Tar- 
tarian oats frequently doubles the produce. Such a bulky crop 
has the collateral advantage of keeping under charlock and other 
weeds. Many intelligent farmers consider that the manage- 
ment of the fifth crop, opposed as it is to the sound principle of 
keeping the land in improving condition, is the weakest point in 
the farming of this county. " To have the last crop of your 
course the best" is a homely maxim, full of meaning. The 
whole system of management should have this aim in view ; for 
the cost of restoring condition to land is always greater than that 
of keeping it in good heart. The crop of oats after wheat with- 
out dressing seldom exceeds 5 quarters per acre ; with liberal 
farming 7 to 9 quarters are as easily obtained. Winter oats are 
grown to some extent to relieve the spring work and to extend 
the period of harvest ; 3 to 3J bushels per acre are sown from 
the middle of September to early in October. 
