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THE ESSEX NATURALIST.
Forest the large hornbeams, both pollarded and free-growing
from the roots, are particularly interesting.
At present no one has determined the age of the drainage
works so characteristic of the area. Nearly all the streams
have been utilized to provide long strips of pasture, some of
which are capable of irrigation. The Pincey Brook Marsh
(from which, doubtless, the monks drew large supplies of thick
creamy milk and the Barrington Hall folk prepared their famous
cheeses) is still very useful, and is certainly beautiful at all
times of the year.
Except for the old brickfield at Hatfield Broad Oak, well
kept arable fields rise on both sides of these long strips of water-
meadow. On large farms a characteristic feature is the long
pasture field. In a few cases, as at Pierce Williams (south of
Hatfield Town) a diminution of water supply has resulted in such
complete drainage of a stream course that there are long narrow
fields of rich black loam now used for crops. All other fields
which occupy the bottom of small and large valleys are, without
exception, used for pasture. Between the streams large, often
square, fields of from five to nearly fifty acres are the rule. On
these a series of crops is grown in the following rotation :—
Wheat, barley, and either beans, clover, roots, mustard, potatoes
or cabbage. Scarcely any fields now lie fallow, especially since
the coming in 1927 of an up-to-date farmer who has rented other
people's fallows for potatoes. A modern usage is the growing of
clover or grass with the grain to rejuvenate the soil so as to make
the most of it. The wheat is usually one of the varieties of bearded
or "Rivett" wheat, which, if of good quality, can be marketed
for breakfast foods. Brewers from St. Albans and elsewhere
collect loads of the barley by direct purchase.
Besides the brickearth there are some patches of old gravel
to the south-west of Hatfield Broad Oak. The largest is at
Hatfield Heath, and is one of a series extending southwards
through Matching. (The exact age of this gravel is at present
being investigated.) Gorse and heath-pasture mark the gravel
outcrop and emphasize its boundaries in a striking manner.
The large patch at Hatfield Heath has provided the site of
a natural route centre where land was not valuable and there
was plenty of "parking space."
The boulder clay soils vary in composition and heaviness.