576 MR. W. G. CLARKE ON BRECKLAND CHARACTERISTICS. 
but it still lives on the continent. It is very strange that 
these two continental forms should thus occur in north-west 
Suffolk. 
But although much of the district is heath, warren or 
derelict “ breck,” yet near the villages agricultural operations 
are carried on with the restrictions imposed by the nature of 
the soil. There are few records of the crops in years gone 
by. In 1800 when the Bishop of Norwich prepared for the 
government a return of the estimated yield of corn per acre 
in East Anglia, the estimate for Thetford district was the 
lowest in the Eastern Counties, the number of coombs per 
acre being 3 to 4 % of wheat, 6 to 8| of barley, and 7 to 7J of 
oats. It is interesting to note that there is a “ Hop Ground ” 
two acres in extent, a short distance west of Wretham Hall. 
Early in the last century such quantities of rye were grown 
in the district as to gain it the appellation of the “ rabbit and 
rye ” country. Professor Newton in ‘The Birds of Norfolk ’ 
(1866), said the district produced fair wheat, barley of the best 
quality, and valuable root-crops. Mr. S. J. B. Skertchly 
said in 1872 : “ Little cultivation is possible ; but the loose 
sandy soil is occasionally tilled, the rental averaging about 
3s. an acre. Rye is the dominant cereal, and 50 years ago 
was still the staple bread-stuff of the poor. Barley of good 
quality is grown in places, and lupins have been extensively 
grown of late years for sheep-feeding. An attempt has been 
recently made to introduce coml'rey, but this plant has hardly 
had a fair trial. Potatoes of good quality and very free from 
disease are grown on the poorest sands, but the crops are not 
heavy. Buckwheat seems to thrive.” At the present day 
most of the fields are of large size, many being as large as 
farms in the heavy land districts of Norfolk. Yet notwith- 
standing that the conditions are on the whole unfavourable 
to agriculture, fairly good crops are sometimes grown, a wet 
season being naturally much more favourable than a dry. 
On such an area as Bromehill Warren, except in a rainy season, 
very little of the corn comes up, and what does survive only 
grows to about a foot or 18 inches. Nevertheless even here 
a good deal of land has been broken up in an endeavour to 
