s distinguished as opposed to the untouched portions. We
may be sure that the best pieces of land were the first to be brought
under cultivation, and it is thus that the best land in most old
parishes, at the present day, is to be found close to the village, and
is generally a portion of the manor property. Later, where glebe was
allotted for the parson's benefit, the poorer parts were apparently
considered good enough for the purpose, so that we generally expect to
find the glebe on somewhat inferior land.

Wheat-growing at Aldington and on most heavy soils was practically
killed by the vast importations from the United States, rendered
possible by the extraction of the natural fertility of her virgin
soils, and by the development of steam traction and transport,
resulting in the food crisis at home during the war. The loss of
arable land converted to inferior grass amounted, in the forty years
from 1874 to 1914, to no less than four million acres. I made such
changes in my own cropping that, where I formerly grew 100 acres of
wheat annually, I reduced the area to ten or twenty acres, mainly for
the sake of the straw for litter and thatching purposes.

Wheat can be planted in what would be considered a very unsuitable
tilth for barley. We had often to follow the drills--where they had
cut into the clayey soil, leaving the seed uncovered, and where the
ground was so sticky and "unkind" that harrowing had very little
effect--with forks, turning the clods over the exposed seed, and
treading them down. Wheat seems to like as firm a seed-bed as
possible, for the best crop was always on the headland, where the
turning of the horses and implements had reduced the soil to the
condition of mortar. The seed would lie in the cold ground for many
weeks before the blade made its appearance, but the men always said,
"'Twill be heavy in the head when it lies long abed." It is cheering
in late autumn and early winter when no other young growth is to be
seen on the farm, suddenly to find the field covered with the fresh
shoots of the wheat in regular lines, and to notice how, after its
first appearance, it makes little further upright growth for a time,
but spreads laterally over the ground as the roots extend downwards.

Nothing in the way of weather will kill wheat, except continuous heavy
rain in winter, where the land is undrained, and stagnant water
collects. I have seen it in May lying flat on the ground after a
severe spring