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III. — SEED GROWING IN ESSEX. 
Extending along the main road from London to Colchester, 
from Witham to Marks Tey, and on either side from Tiptree to 
Coggeshall, a curious type of agriculture may be found. The 
village of Kelvedon is the centre of a flourishing seed-growing 
district. From May to September the eyes of a traveller along 
the splendid thoroughfare will be met with brilliant patches 
of colour, and men and women may be seen standing or 
kneeling whilst slowly carrying out minute operations of an 
unusual character. It may be that boys or women are picking 
the seed pods from a stetch of multi-coloured pansies, or a 
group of men in a stackyard are engaged in unloading turnip 
seed on to a rick cloth where it will be trodden from the straw 
by horses. It is pre-eminently a district where manual labour 
prevails, and where old-fashioned methods of culture are 
assiduouslv followed. Yet with these there is also a keen 
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appreciation of progress, and a strong determination to make 
the most of the land. 
The nature of the soil in the district varies from a strong 
clay to light gravels and rich loams. But all of it finds its 
distinct use amongst the varied crops that are grown. Some 
years ago much of it was derelict, and there is proof of what 
adaptability and enterprise on the part of the farmer may do 
for the agricultural industry in the fact that a farm which was 
taken rent free by one of the largest seed farmers twenty 
years ago was recently bought by him at the rate of 34 1 . 10s. 
per acre. The value of the land in the neighbourhood as 
indicated by recent sales is somewhere about 40 1 . per acre, 
though some agricultural land with a meagre road frontage has 
sold for 60/. 
The seed-growing industry is followed by large and small 
farmers, small holders and allotment holders. The crops 
grown include seeds of farm roots, vegetables and flowers. 
Corn and grass are not excluded, but they occupy rather a 
small percentage of the land. On a farm of 1,000 acres, 150 
are this year (1913) under grass, 28 under barley, 59 under 
wheat. Of the other 763 acres, 150 are under seed peas, grown 
for merchants ; 200 are under mangolds, growing for seed ; 
50 under swedes, for the same purpose ; and 50 under seed 
turnips. The remainder is taken up by crops of broccoli, 
cabbages, parsnips, celery, broad and runner beans, and some 
flowers, including one and a half acres of dwarf larkspurs, 
one and all of them being grown for seed. Peas for market 
are also grown occasionally, and maize, roots, and catch- 
crops whenever possible, are grown for the herd of milch 
cows which are kept to make the best use of the waste 
