210
THE ESSEX NATURALIST.
Let us therefore consider the possibilities of Roman im-
provements of British agriculture and attempt to use this
information to delineate (if it is possible) the Romano-British
centuriated areas.
It has been shown by Karslake that the coulter plough was
not used to any extent in Italy. Certainly the Mediterranean
soils would hardly require deep ploughing—an act calculated
to diminish seriously their moisture content. Heavy wet soils
like the Essex Boulder Clay and the London Clay are not to be
met with in Mediterranean lands, and it is therefore not sur-
prising that the method of tilling in Italy appears primitive
when compared with the thoroughness of ploughing necessary
in the more northerly countries. Thus the Romans, lacking
experience in the type of agriculture necessary in Britain, could
hardly have been expected to introduce improvements. Nor
could they introduce innovations from the north of the continent,
since the Belgic culture had but recently arrived from there, and
the La Tene folk were still in communication with their original
stock. Finally, Romano-British remains do not indicate any
differences in agricultural implements since Belgic days.
Therefore assuming the general accuracy of Randall's state-
ment that "...the agricultural practice of Britain . . . was
so good already that the Romans could not improve it," we may
inquire whether those tendencies observed during the Belgic
times continued during the Roman Era. We have noted that
in the time of the former people there were beginnings of forest
clearing to the north and south of Essex, and it would be
imagined that under the stable conditions implied by the Roman
rule this clearing and cultivation would be continued. It is
proposed to investigate the possibility that the Romans con-
tinued the spread of cultivation in Essex and to attempt to
ascertain whether the practice of centuriation was followed,
since the topography of the district offered no obstacles, and as
we have seen the standard of agricultural knowledge was notably
high for the times. Some information germane to the problem
may be gathered from the conditions obtaining on the continent.
Districts exist in Italy where the present day landscape still
exhibits the characteristics of the Roman method of settlement
and cultivation by centuriation. This was carried out by a grid-