James Charles Clutterbuck

“ The straw grown on the chalk soils at the north of the county is well fitted for the purpose. The straw drawers either purchase the straw in the bulk, and take away all that suits their purpose, or, more commonly, bargain to take, by weight, that only which they select. The farmer who has a crop fitted for the purpose has it reaped with great care, if the weather be fine, in an early stage of its maturity, leaving the sheaves open for a time till they are quite dry, and setting aside those in which the straw may be twisted ”

“ The climate of England, though it may have undergone some changes, must be essentially the same as when Fuller said of Hertfordshire, “It is the Garden of England for delight; men commonly say that such as buy a house in Hertfordshire, pay two years’ purchase for the aire thereof;”—a salubrity due to the geological condition of the greater part of the county, gravel upon chalk. ”

“ Much reliance is placed on the deep cultivation of the soil, which is principally effected by the use of a two-wheeled plough, divested of its mould-board, which follows the first plough, armed with a share copied from that of the unwieldy and disused old Hertfordshire plough. ”

“ The highest ground on the ridges between the rivers is capped with portions of the plastic clay in situ, which may be deemed outlying patches of the clay-district, in some cases covered with gravel to a sufficient depth to retain the water to serve the ordinary wants of villages or hamlets, such as Abbots Langley and Bedmont. Thus the population is found either on the ridge or in the valleys near the rivers, the intermediate parts being dependent on water drawn from deep wells sunk into the chalk. ”

“ The great drawback to the cultivation is the precarious nature of the crop, which is very often destroyed in a single night by an untimely frost, apart from other casualties to which fruit-crops are liable. The fruit is generally sold on the trees to dealers, and realises from 12s. to 16s. per “ped” or basket, holding about four dozen pounds. The sorts grown, though not confined to the county, are characteristic of Hertfordshire. These are known as the Caroon, the largest sort, and small Hertfordshire black. ”

“ On the higher levels the tertiary clay forms rather wide-spread “plateaus,” covered very generally with a drift consisting of water-worn chalk, with some chalk-flints. This drift, for such it appears to be, is not found in the western parts of the clay-districts of Hertfordshire under the same geological conditions of subsoil, though it is very extensively diffused in Essex, where it presents some of the best cornland in that county. ”

“ By regulating the height of the water in the various divisions a proper succession in the ripening of the crop is secured. The cutting is performed either by wading in waterproof boots between the rows, or by placing moveable planks across the beds. The washing and packing in hampers or baskets finishes the operation. The growth of this simple and indigenous plant is daily on the increase; the letting the ditches for this purpose is more profitable to the landowner than the irrigation of the meadows, if it could be done; the rent cannot be estimated by the acreage under cultivation. ”

“ The person who is employed by the dealer to draw the straw takes a certain quantity from the sheaf and binds it quite tight with a leathern strap; he then places his parcel, thus formed, between his legs, takes a few straws at a time just beneath the ears and draws them out, until his other hand, to which he transfers them, is full, and ties the handful, like a gleaner, beneath the ears. ”

“ The manufacture of straw-plait not only furnishes employment for the females of the labouring classes, but bears on the agricultural interests of part of the county, by creating a market for some of the wheat-straw grown within its limits. This trade, from its nature, varies with and is ruled by the fashions in dress. Luton and Dunstable, in Bedfordshire, are its headquarters, though it extends to the centre of the county of Hertford, where much plait is made to supply the dealers, whose attendance at Hitchin and elsewhere creates a considerable market. ”

“ The flock now unfortunately numbers only 200. The value placed on them for breeding purposes may be learned by the significant fact, that all the ram lambs are saved, and command a ready sale at good prices.
It may be a question whether this breed and quality of sheep is that best fitted to a neighbourhood and soil such as that on which it has been so long and so successfully maintained; the mere fact of its existence, however, supplies an argument in its favour. ”

“ In the most southern portion, where the chalk is covered by the London and Plastic clays, the elm and oak attain a much larger growth, unless the upper drift gravel intervene, which is only suited to larch or fir. The beech woods, in which underwood refuses to grow, are periodically thinned, and the fall used by wheelers, and, in some cases, by chair-makers, though this trade is almost entirely confined to Buckinghamshire. The ordinary coppice is commonly cut every twelve years and sold by auction. ”

“ From this small beginning a large trade has sprung up, which now extends to the Manufacturing Districts. The persons who hire the spring-ditches for the cultivation of the plant scour and cleanse them with much care, level their bottoms, and often expand their area till they form a series of shallow lakes, in which the height of the water is regulated by dams. These dams are either permanent—formed of stones or two lines of boards, supported by stakes, between which clay is rammed ”

“ The surface of the subterranean water would be shown by an inclined line, fixed at the river, and more or less elevated or depressed towards the ridge according as the stock of water is augmented by the replenishment of the chalk stratum, or reduced by the natural drainage. Thus in chalk districts the level at which water is found may be accurately ascertained. ”

“ The waste is not so great as might be supposed, all the chaff and caving is left behind with the ears, and with much of the rough straw, which may be converted into manure. The operation puts the farmer to some inconvenience, but the price given is remunerative, amounting, on an average, to about a penny per pound, so that the value of the straw may exceed that of the corn. ”

“ In many places woods have of late been grubbed, when, from their frequent interlacing with the arable land, they were incompatible with improved cultivation; but in a county where there are so many resident proprietors, coverts for game will not readily give place to the steam plough. ”

“ The woodlands are too often objects of little care, and are scarcely ever renewed or replanted as the old stools die or fail. Those which belonged to the late Sir John Sebright, of Beechwood, are, however, an exception to this rule, and bear the traces of careful replenishing to this day ”

“ One novelty among implements is to be found in the adjustment of shafts for the purpose of turning, or rather reversing the action of a heavy iron roller, an unpatented invention of the owner of Beechwood, which weighs 3 tons, and can be loaded by filling a cradle with stones up to 4 tons. ”

“ He would find the land cleared of its sheep after the consumption of the swede and root-crop, the hay and straw very generally sold, and barely replaced by London manure, when it is to be had. Very many exceptions may of course be found, among which a farm at Wheathampstead, near the centre of the district under consideration, is a notable instance. ”

“ As a general rule, the growth is not sufficiently straight and free to serve a better purpose than making rods or headers for fencing, pea-sticks, faggots, or at best, turner’s stuff, or sparred hurdles and wattled hurdles for sheep. ”

“ The construction of artificial swallow-holes deserves our consideration as a means both of maintaining a perennial supply of water to our rivers, and also of facilitating drainage operations on a system suggested more than a century ago by Elkington. ”