Agriculture of Hertfordshire. 
279 
The stubble after the fifth crop is not unfrequently, though not 
necessarily, in a foul state, and filled with the imperishable seeds 
of charlock, the weed of the district. To destroy this pest the 
land cannot be moved too often, provided the crop of seeds 
brought to the surface has time to vegetate. 
Autumn cultivation, by broad-sharing the stubble, is prac- 
tised to some extent in fine seasons. 
Swedes are sown on lands ploughed 12 feet wide, so as to be 
drilled by a bout with the Suffolk drill. The use of superphos- 
phate is universal for turnips : guano is added to the other ma- 
nures under liberal farming. 
Some white turnips have of late years' been sown and 
folded early, and followed by wheat. Hand-hoeing is let at 7s. 
an acre, to include singling and weeding. The intervals are kept 
clean by the horse-hoe, which is often improvised by detaching 
the mowld-board from a common plough, and adding a broad- 
share behind. 
On the heaviest land, swedes, if grown at all, are drawn to the 
yards ; and one of the largest sheep-farmers assures us he has 
been compelled to abandon folding later than November, even 
on well-drained heavy land, to avoid injury to his barley. The 
weight of swedes per acre on these soils, and in this dry climate, 
is very small. Some informants estimate the crop at 10 tons 
per acre ; but with average management and seasons it is pro- 
bably less. With the best treatment 18 tons of cleaned swedes 
per acre can be looked for only in a favourable year. 
The cultivation of mangold has increased in the last seven 
years, but has received a check by two or three unfavourable 
seasons. The system of autumn-manuring and cultivation in 
spring, without turning in the well-weathered surface, has been 
introduced with unquestioned benefit: two ploughings in autumn 
and winter are advisable to break up the land, which then 
works better in spring. The breadth grown is restricted by a 
general impression that they exhaust the land. Is it not meant 
by this that they yield a heavy crop compared with swedes, and 
therefore leave less for the succeeding crop ? On highly-farmed 
land, on the contrary, mangold is considered a good preparation 
for corn.* 
Fallows are still made with five or six ploughings ; and adjoin- 
ing Essex, the one-yard ridges are common. This system is 
well described in detail by Mr. Raynbird, in the 8th vol. of 
the Journal^ Part 2. On land well drained the ridge is not 
quite so prevalent as formerly. Foul land is perhaps more 
* So long as I carted off the leaves I found a difficulty in growing corn after 
mangold, even with the aid of artificial manures: a good dressing of tops, ploughed 
in, removes this difficulty even on light laud— P.H.F. 
