Page:VCH Kent 1.djvu/554

 A HISTORY OF KENT at the expense of both small and large holdings, in Kent there has been a considerable increase in the number of small farms. i In many parts of the county, as for example in Sheppey, the movement has probably been more in line with general experience, as arable farms have gradually become merged in extensive grazing tracts. It is in the rapid increase of fruit and vegetable culture in the more favourably-situated parts of the county that an explanation of the growth of small holdings in Kent must in all likelihood be sought. While the number of persons directly interested in the cultivation of the soil has thus increased, there has been in Kent, as in every other county, a great reduction in the number of agricultural labourers employed. Of males there were 47,000 in i86i, 40,000 in 1881, and only 31,000 in 1901. Not only has the decline in arable cultivation lessened the demand for labour, but on the smaller area of ploughed land far less labour is now required owing to the ever-increasing use of machinery, notably the self-binding reaper. Apart from those in regular employment a great number of temporary labourers are required at certain seasons of the year, particularly for fruit and hop-picking. In all probability the numbers engaged in the hop-gardens have diminished, while fruit picking gives more employment than formerly. The proximity of the great commercial centre offers great attractions to the younger farm labourers, and causes the general rate of wages to be relatively high in Kent. The weekly earnings of an ordinary labourer in 1902, including the value of allowances in kind, were estimated at 19/. jd., and the cash wages alone at i6s. ^d. throughout the year. Men in charge of animals would obtain 6d. to is. 6d. more than these amounts. Some account of the existing state of agriculture in various parts of Kent, and of some of the special features of its agriculture, will now be given. In a recent article by Sir Charles Whitehead - the county was divided into four large districts, viz. East Kent, North Kent, Mid- Kent and the Weald, and four smaller areas, viz. Thanet, Sheppey, The Hundred of Hoo, and Romney Marsh. The same divisions will accordingly be adopted here. East Kent. — This is the largest of the divisions to be described, occupying about three- eighths of the total area of the county. It is bounded roughly by a line drawn from Rochester to Ashford and thence to Hythe. The proportions of arable and pasture land in this part of Kent are about equal, and taken altogether it is the most important part of the county for the growing of corn ; of barley in particular, 60 per cent, of the county acreage is found here, while wheat and oats are each grown upon practically the same extent of land, viz. some 20,000 acres. Roots (princi- pally turnips) and rotation grasses come next in importance, occupying about equal areas. The greater part of the division is on the Chalk, which here attains its greatest breadth, extending from Folkestone to within four miles of the north coast. Much of the land con- sists merely of a more or less shallow covering of mould upon the Chalk, in some districts loamy and friable but in others marly and unkind. These features characterize the soil from Canter- bury to Deal, Dover, Folkestone and Ashford as well as the slopes of the chalk hills westward to Rochester. The rotation followed in these districts is usually the four-course — (i) wheat, (2) turnips, (3) barley, and (4) grass. On the better soils a seven-year course is taken, such as (i) turnips, (2) barley or oats, (3) seeds, (4) wheat, (5) barley or oats, (6) peas or beans. This is varied by sowing sainfoin with barley and oats or by sowing Italian rye-grass and white clover and leaving it down for two or three years. In the north-east there is some useful alluvial soil formed by the gradual silting up of the Stour, and extending as far south as Deal. It affords valuable pasture land which is worked in conjunction with the arable farms on either side of the Stour. It will fatten li bullocks per acre and will carry 2|- sheep per acre during the winter. There is also some good pasture land in the south on the Gault belt fringing the Chalk between Folkestone and Ashford. Con- 1 The comparison between Kent and the rest of England is as follows : — Kent. Rtst of England. Number Number Number Number in 1895. in 1906. in 1S95. in 1906. 1. Small Holdings — Above I and not exceeding 5 acres 2,156 2,212 ^^,Sgg 78,7°S Above 5 and not exceeding 50 acres .... 4,670 5,017 165,921 161,000 2. Medium-sized Holdings — Above 50 and not exceeding 300 acres. . . 3,165 3,382 103,790 106,354 3. Large Holdings — Above 300 acres 494 431 15.084 14,280 460
 * 'A Sketch of the Agriculture of Kent' in Jotini. of the Royal Jgric. Soc. (1899).