beauty of the country, have much contributed to this circumstance, by making this county a favorite residence, and by attracting great numbers of wealthy persons to purchase lands for building villas: this has multiplied estates in a manner unknown in the distant counties." Freehold estates have of late sold at twenty-five and twenty-eight years purchase; and, under particular circumstances, some very large tracks have obtained from thirty to thirty-two years purchase. The largest estate in the county is about the annual value of 70001. Several others are averaged at from 30001. to 40001, annually; more at 20001. and below that sum, they may be met with of almost every amount. A large portion of the county is held by copyhold tenure, with a fine certain, or at the will of the lord; but which fine seldom exceeds two years rent. Land thus held, sells at about six years purchase under the price of freehold.t By far the greatest proportion of Hertfordshire is under tillage: as a corn country, it is considered as one of the first in England; and was so reputed, indeed, even in the beginning of the last century. Its progress in improved modes of husbandry, has not, however, kept pace with that of other counties during the same period; though the attention given to agriculture is very general, and of late years, it has become still more a favorite pursuit. The common extent of farms is from 150 to 400 acres; though there are many much smaller: several contain from 400 to 700 acres; and a few from 800 to 1000 acres; the latter being considered as the largest size of any in the courty. The largest farms are, in general, the best managed, and most productive; the opinion is common, that the land cannot be kept in that degree of fertility, requisite to support the rental, and other expenses, without bringing large quantities of manure from the Capital; a business but insufficiently executed on small farms. The average of rent per acre is about 15s. subject to tithe, which is compounded for through the whole county, with * Young's General View of the Agriculture of Herts, p. 18. † Ibid. p. 19. with very few, if any, exceptions, at an average of about 3s. 6d. or four shillings. The more productive of the arable lands, let at from 18s. to 25s. per acre; the open lands round Barkway and Royston, at about 10s. on the average; those in the vicinity of Buntingford, which are extremely productive, at twenty or twentyone shillings. The meadow lands on the borders of the rivers Lea and Stort, obtain from 40s. to three pounds per acre; and those in other parts, let at proportionable sums. Several of the larger farms are under the immediate direction of the noblemen belonging to the estates; and, greatly to the honor of the accomplished Marchioness of Salisbury, a piece of ground, seventeen acres in extent, was inclosed at Hatfield, about ten years ago, for the purpose of making agricultural experiments.* The prevailing soils in this county are loam and clay; the former is met with in almost all its gradations, and is more or less intermingled with flints or sand. The vales, through which the rivers and brooks take their course, are composed of a rich sandy loam, with the exception of a small quantity of peat and marshy moor; the slopes of the hills descending to these vales, exhibit inferior sorts of the same loams; but the flatter surface of the higher grounds, are composed of a wet and strong loam, of a reddish hue, and tending in a greater or less degree to clay, by which term it is frequently, though very improperly, denominated. The loam district extends westward from the river Beane, over the greatest part of the county; and is almost every where under a turnip course, and the crops are generally fed on the land. Good loam, or gravel and chalk, also prevails in the division of the county formed by Ware, Hockerill, and Buntingford; and very fine crops of wheat are grown in the vicinity of the latter place, and of Puckeridge. From Westmill to Walkern, the loam is very strong and adhesive, but still fertile; and in the nighbourhood of Hertford, the loams are of good quality. In the vicinity of Cole Green and Hatfield, they are less productive; but improve about Astwick and Sandridge; round which places some very good sandy loams * Additional particulars concerning this Experiment ground will be inserted under Hatfield. loams are found; in some parts intermixed with gravel. Round St. Albans, and extending to Watford and Rickmansworth, the soil is principally composed of deep flinty loam, with a chalk basis: towards Berkhampstead, Hemel-Hempstead, and Beachwood, the loam is of a reddish hue, and full of flints: in some spots it merges into clay. The most productive of the sandy loams are found on the west side of the river Lea, extending in a line of between two and three miles in breadth, through the parishes of Cheshunt, Wormley, Broxbourn, and Hoddesdon, and on to the hills about Amwell. This is of a very pale reddish hue; deep, moist, and friable; yet so adhesive, as sometimes to bind: it lets at 40s. an acre; and in favorable seasons, that quantity of ground produces five quarters of wheat. The principal clay district is on the north-east, or Essex side; yet even here the upper surface is in general a strong wet loam, improved by hollow drainings, and by ample dressings of manure, from the Capital. The pure clay of the stiff harsh and tenacious kind, resembling the bean-lands of Middlesex and Berkshire, forms but a small part of the soil of this county. It extends, on the south side, in a line from one to three miles in breadth, through the parishes of Barnet, Totteridge, Elstree, Aldenham, and Bushey; and so on to the vicinity of Moor Park. In the parishes of Northall, and North-Mims, and lower part of that of Hatfield, the general description of soil is extremely sterile: Mr. Young supposes it the most unfertile in the south of England. The characteristics of this soil, observes that gentleman, "are wetness, or spewiness, as the farmers term it, from many springs; most of which are sulphury, and extremely unfavorable to vegetation, abounding more or less with smooth pebbles; which, at various depths, are conglomerated into plumbpudding stones, in some places so near the surface as to impede the plough, if set an inch or two at a greater depth than the old scratchings * Young's General View, p. 6. † Ibid. Some of these lumps of Breccia, that are occasionally dug up, are of considerable size, and when cut and polished, present a very curious variegated surface. scratchings of bad ploughmen. It is stiff, without a matrix for the roots of plants; and sharp and burning even in the immediate vicinity of springs: it has much sticky clay in the composition, but of a most sterile nature." The most judicious method of preparing this kind of soil for cultivation, is by ploughing it into high ridges; and when it is sufficiently drained by that means, to manure it properly. The benefit of manuring is, however, soon lost; and the best appropriation, perhaps, that can be made of this kind of land, is to apply it to the growth of wood. The tract included in this general description, is interspersed with many fields of better quality, particularly when surrounded by any little stream. The only soil that now remains to be noticed, is that of chalk, which prevails generally on the northern side of the county; and extends from the neighbourhood of Barkway and Royston, through all the contiguous parishes to Baldock, Hitchin, King's Walden, &c. The basis, indeed, of the whole county is chalk, either more or less pure; though the depths at which it is found are very different. "The surface chalk consists of two varieties; chalk with no other mixture than what ages of cultivation and manuring have added; and what is called marme, which is a white marle, from the mixture of a portion of clay; of these soils the latter is the best, though both are good." As the principal part of the land in Hertfordshire is under tillage, the produce in wheat, barley, and oats, is very considerable: large quantities of turnips are also grown; and artificial grasses are cultivated to a very great extent. The rotation of crops is varied according to the nature of the soil: but the most general course appears to be turnips, barley, clover, wheat, and oats: in the clays and strong loams, fallows are introduced in succession with barley, clover, and wheat, and occasionally varied by peas, beans, &c. The average quantity of seed-wheat sown per acre, is two bushels and a half: the average produce from the same extent of land, may be estimated at from twenty-three to twenty-five bushels : on the rich loams, in the vicinity of Buntingford, forty bushels are frequently Young's General View, p. 11. frequently produced. The quantity of seed-barley sown per acre, is from three bushels and a half to four bushels; the average produce is thirty-two bushels: the produce of oats is nearly similar; the quantity sown varies from four to five bushels. Turnips and clover are supposed to have been introduced into this county in the time of Oliver Cromwell, who is said to have allowed 1001. yearly to the farmer who first attended to their culture. The most experienced husbandmen plough in the seed, in preference to harrowing it in, by which method it is less liable to be destroyed by the fly, and the produce in dry seasons is much greater. The entire management, however, is not proportionably judicious; for the turnips are, in general, hoed but once, instead of twice or thrice, as in the Norfolk mode. Swedish turnips, though but of late introduction, have obtained a very general attention, and are deservedly held in great estimation, for their valuable properties in fattening sheep, oxen, hogs, &c. for these, as well as for other qualities, they are very much superior to the common turnip; and sheep and cattle are particularly fond of them. Clover is generally mowed twice; but in some places the second crop is fed on the land; though the former mode is considered as the best: the clover grounds, under judicious manage. ment, are sometimes appropriated to lucerne and trefoil. Saintfoin, rye-grass, and tares, are also grown in this county; and the culture of cabbages and potatoes is much attended to. The system of drill-husbandry has not made any considerable progress in Hertfordshire: the success accompanying its introduction has been various; and in some parts it has been again laid aside; nor does the opinion in favor of its preference to the broadcast mode, appear to be very general. The spirited manner in which manures are employed in this county, tend greatly to inerease the products of the soil. Chalk, obtained from pits sunk for the purpose within the district, is very generally in use; and night-soil, and stable-dung, brought from the Capital at considerable expense, has also a very extensive appropriation. In some few places the chalk is burnt into lime; but in all others it is strewed upon the land immediately from the pits. From sixty to one hun dred |