ltivated and cider is
largely produced. Kent is again pre-eminent in the growth of hops;
indeed this practice and that of fruit-growing give the scenery of the
county a strongly individual character. Hop-growing extends from Kent
into the neighbouring parts of Sussex and Surrey, where, however, it
is much less important; it is also practised to a considerable degree
in a group of counties of the midlands and west--Herefordshire,
Worcestershire, Gloucestershire and Shropshire. Market-gardening is
carried on most extensively on suitable lands in the neighbourhood of
the great areas of urban population; thus the open land remaining in
Middlesex is largely devoted to this industry. From the Channel and
Scilly Islands, vegetables, especially seasonable vegetables, and also
flowers which, owing to the peculiar climatic conditions of these
islands, come early to perfection, are imported to the London market.
Considering the crops not hitherto specified, it may be indicated that
turnips and swedes form the chief green crops in most districts;
potatoes, mangels, beans and peas are also commonly grown, Beyond the
three chief grain crops, only a little rye is grown. The cultivation
of flax is almost extinct, but it is practised in a few districts,
such as the East and West Ridings of Yorkshire.

Livestock.

The counties in which the greatest proportion of the land is devoted
to permanent pasture may be judged roughly from the list of "grass
counties" already given. Derbyshire, Leicestershire, the midland
counties generally, and Somersetshire, have the highest proportion,
and the counties of the East Anglian seaboard the lowest. But with
lands thus classified heath, moor and hill pastures are not included;
and the greatest areas of these are naturally found in the counties of
the Pennines and the Lake District, especially in Northumberland,
Cumberland, Westmorland and the North and West Ridings of Yorkshire.
There is also plenty of hill-pasture in the south-western counties
(from Hampshire and Berkshire westward), especially in Devonshire,
Cornwall and Somersetshire, and also in Monmouthshire and along the
Welsh marches, on the Cotteswold Hills, &c. In all these localities
sheep are extensively reared, especially in Northumberland, but on the
other hand in Lincolnshire the numbers of sheep are roughly equal to
those in the northern county. Other counties i