ESSEX is almost entirely an agricultural county. The feeding of oxen in winter is now extensively practised by all good farmers in Essex, whether of strong or light barns. In those farms which have marshes attached to them a great number of cattle is constantly kept. Along the Thames the salt marshes are extensive, and are profitable from the number of horses whioh are sent to feed there from London. Besides the common crops usually cultivated, considerable quanti ties of tole or rape-seed, caraway, coriander, and teasels are raised. In that part of Essex which lies within a few miles of London, the cultivation of the soil partakes more of the garden culture. Vegetables, especially cab bages, are raised in great quantities, and very extensive fields are almost entirely devoted to the raising of potatoes. The cows and horses in Essex are chiefly reared in Suffolk, and Scotland supplies the oxen to fatten. Many
calves are fatted, which are killed in the county, or go to London by railway. Essex is not a sheep-breeding county, although many fine lambs are reared ; but they are generally bought from the breeders in Wiltshire or Sussex in autumn, and sold fat to the butcher in the succeeding spring.
In Barking, many of the inhabitants are fishermen, or employed in conveying coals' and other neeessaries from London for the supply of Barking and other places in the neighbourhood. At Coggeshall manufactures of silk have nearly superseded the manufactures of woollen. At Harwich, Malden, Romford, and other towns, manufac- ' tures are carried on to a limited extent ; but Essex can by no means be considered a manufacturing county. Women's stays and shoes, and small wares in silk, are made to some considerable extent in the neighbour hood of Stratford.