“ Little more than one-half the total area of the county is under cultivation; and the grain crops, greatly decreasing, are insignificant. The soil in the north and north-west is heavy, poor clay; but the rich alluvial soil of the Thames Valley is specially suitable for market gardens. On the outskirts of London much land now built over was formerly devoted to market gardening. The number of livestock decreases; in fact, agriculture as a whole has slowly to give place to extension of building. Industries are extensive and varied. ”

“ Middlesex has always been included in the diocese of London. The archdeaconry of Middlesex, which includes part of Essex, is mentioned in 1151, but the Middlesex portion was not subdivided into rural deaneries until 1857, when the deaneries of Fulham, Ealing, Uxbridge, Staines, Hampton, Enfield, Harrow and St Pancras were created. ”

“ Elsewhere the country is very slightly undulating or quite flat, as along the banks of the Thames and Lea. The Thames, however, beautifies its immediate neighbourhood, and rich sylvan scenery is not wanting in the higher districts. The greater part of the county was formerly densely forested and sparsely populated, and the name of Enfield Chase, a royal preserve in the north-east, still recalls this condition. In modern times the visible influence of London has spread over practically the entire county. Villages have grown into populous suburbs ”