246 THE ESSEX NATURALIST.
factories in central Essex and to the north just beyond the confines
of the county provided further additional supplies of waste lime
suitable for agriculture.
In spite of the increased supplies of lime and chalk provided
by all these sources the output was not equal to the demand.
The tendency to use lime and chalk extensively in the northern
and western stretches of lighter clay was still in operation. It
must also be borne in mind that the lime trade naturally favoured
orders placed by their more prosperous and long-established
farmer customers in these areas. This tendency in a time of
shortage is, of course, apparent in most trades.
In order to overcome this impasse the Essex War Agricultural
Executive Committee, working in conjunction with the Agri-
cultural Lime Department of the Ministry of Agriculture,
instituted a rationing scheme a few months ago. Under this
scheme farmers in Essex needing lime or chalk have first to
submit their orders to the Agricultural Committee, who take
steps through their advisory officers to ascertain whether the
farm really needs lime or not. If the land concerned is not
deficient in lime a permit is refused and the lime suppliers in the
county have voluntarily agreed not to supply any farmer
who does not submit a County Committee permit with his order.
It is worth while commenting on the fact that in this instance
the trade have carried out the wishes of the Government without
the need of any Order or Act in spite of possible harm to their
custom arising after the war. Their action seems deserving
of the highest praise.
If the advisory officers of the War Agricultural Executive
Committee of the county decide that the farmer's land needs
lime a permit is issued and the Agricultural Lime Department
advises the farmer of the nearest producer able to supply. As
a result of this scheme the recent big demand for chalk and lime
from the south-eastern London Clay belt has been met to an
increasing degree, and it is a source of satisfaction that the
tendencies showing the pre-war distribution of lime and chalk
deliveries have been largely reversed.
Within the space of four or five years the deliveries of lime
and chalk in Essex have increased from an annual figure of a
few thousand to almost a quarter of a million tons, in spite
of war-time difficulties. Land until recently derelict for almost
a hundred years is again growing corn—and corn grown on Essex
land by Essex labour and vastly aided by supplies of local chalk.
The agricultural cycle in the county has once more reached the
zenith—is it too much to hope that in a few years time it will
not commence its path to the nadir whilst want still exists in
England ?