As regards the number of the larger and commoner kinds of domesticated animals, sheep in 1905 reached a total of 94,461, or about 234 to every 1000 acres; the average for England generally being 445 per 1000 acres. The prevailing breeds are the Hampshire Down, the South Down, and the Dorset; the latter being favoured on account of their early lambing. Hertfordshire is not a great horse-breeding county, and in 1905 the number of these animals was only 15,070. Cattle numbered 38,636, and pigs 25,338. Shorthorns are the favourite breed of cattle among the farmers; and although in the chalk districts the soil is not specially well suited for dairy purposes, farms near the main railways despatch a considerable amount of milk to London. The number of horses was nearly the same as in 1901, but cattle showed an increase of nearly 2000 head. Sheep, however, had decreased by over 2000 and pigs by more than 6000. 11. Special Cultivations. The most important special cultivation in Hertfordshire is undoubtedly watercress, which is very extensively grown in the river-valleys over a broad belt of country extending from the Welwyn district, through the parishes of Harpenden, Wheathampstead and Redbourn, and thence to Amersham and Rickmansworth, as well as to the Vale of Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire; this district being reported to be the best in England for this particular crop. The cress is grown in beds cut through the low-ground from one bend of the river to another, so that a constant, but regulated stream of water is continually flowing through. The seed is sown in special beds, and the young cress carefully planted out in regular rows in the mud of the permanent beds during the autumn. Much care has to be exercised in tending and weeding the crop, from which two prolonged cuttings are obtained annually; the spring cutting being, however, much larger and better than the autumn one. After cutting, the watercress is tied up in bundles and packed in flat, oblong, osier hampers, or baskets; of which, during the spring season, huge stacks may be seen at the local railway stations awaiting despatch, either to the metropolis, or to the great manufacturing towns of the Midlands. For ordinary purposes the land on which watercress is grown is almost valueless; but the watercress beds yield a big rental. To furnish material for the aforesaid watercress hampers, as well as for basket-work generally, osiers are cultivated in some of the river-valleys, as in the Lea a mile or so above Wheathampstead, where there are extensive beds.