Of the total of 402,856[2] acres in the county, 329,641 were under cultivation in that year; 1917 were orchards, 26,568 were woodland, while 1657 acres consisted of heaths and commons used as grazing-grounds. At the same date there were 116,700 acres under corn-cultivation; that is to say, something approaching one-fourth the total acreage, against about one-seventh in Kent. Green crops accounted for 32,702 acres, while of the remainder there were 36,831 under clover, sainfoin, and grasses, 3315 under lucerne, meadows claimed 54,589 acres, pasture 70,678, and small fruits 544. Of the corn-grazing area, wheat occupied 51,691, oats 36,946, and barley 27,960 acres. [2] See page 8 and footnote. It is thus apparent that out of the 329,641 acres of cultivated land no less than 200,000, or more than half the whole area of the county, and about 60 per cent. of the total farming land, was still under the plough; this large proportion being at the time exceeded only in six English counties. The increase in permanent pasture has, however, been steadily progressing since the great fall in the price of cereals in the seventies; this being aided by the improvements in the means of communication throughout the country, which have tended to rob Hertfordshire of its original special advantage (owing to its proximity) in the matter of supplying the metropolis with corn and straw. The subject of Hertfordshire agriculture cannot be dismissed without mention of the fact that the world-renowned agricultural station at Rothamsted, in Harpenden parish, founded and endowed by the late Sir J. B. Lawes, is included within its limits. This includes a laboratory, under a Director, situated on the west side of Harpenden common, and certain plots of land in the park at Rothamsted where agricultural experiments have been carried on for more than sixty years. The whole station is administered by a committee, mainly appointed by the Royal Society. Fruit is grown only to a comparatively small extent in Hertfordshire. Very characteristic of the county are, however, the orchards (now for the most part more or less neglected) of small black cherries, known as Hertfordshire blacks, and also as “mazzards,” which are situated near the homesteads of most of the older farms. These are probably a cultivated variety of the wild black cherry of the neighbouring woods. On the rich-soiled, low-lying lands of the Lea valley on the south-eastern side of the county are situated numerous market-gardens and nurseries. The growing of tomatos (at Harpenden), cucumbers, and grapes under glass is carried on in several parts of the county on a more or less extensive scale. Elm, oak, beech, and ash form the most common timber-trees of the county, but the predominance of each kind in particular districts depends, as already mentioned, on the nature of the geological formation. The undergrowth in the woods, which should be cut every 12 or 13 years, consists mainly of hazel.