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WAR-TIME LIMING IN ESSEX.
By RUPERT COLES, B.A., M.Sc. (Econ.), M.Sc. (Agric), Ph. D.
[Read 30th January, 1943]
MEMBERS of the Essex Field Club can no doubt recall
papers in earlier numbers of the Essex Naturalist
where attention has been drawn to the decline of arable farming
in certain districts of the county. Reference in one paper is
made to a survey submitted by Mr. Hunter Pringle in a Blue Book
of 1894, in which he draws attention to the way in which the
area stretching from the Dengie Hundred south-westwards
to the Thames side was tumbling down to grass.1
The author of this report gives his views on the reasons for
the location of the decline of arable farming in this particular
district. He describes it as "three-horse land" when comparing
it with the "two-horse land" farther north and west. This
nomenclature is, of course, based on the differing soil types in
the two areas—the heavy London Clay area in the south-east
belt and the lighter Chalky Boulder Clay running north and
north-west of this belt. These differences in soil-texture
necessitated the use of a heavy team on the stiff London Clay,
whilst the lighter Chalky Boulder Clay needed only a two-horse
team for ploughing.
Throughout the history of Essex these two major soil areas
have strongly influenced settlement and agriculture. The early
English settlements show a continual striving to settle and
cultivate the north-western heavily wooded belt with its more
fertile and easier working soils of the Boulder-Clay district.2
The present writer has endeavoured to trace their movements in
various papers he has read before the Club and he concludes
that by the 16th century arable farming was firmly established
1 Blue Book. B.P.P., 1894, Vol. xvi. See also Essex Naturalist, Vol. xxvi., pp.
22, 23.
2 Essex Naturalist, Vol. xxiv., pp. 115-133, Vol. xxvi., pp. 204-220.