136 BIOLOGICAL PROBLEMS 



to the average rainfall, would at any particular time 

 be under productive leys, which leys would move 

 about in an ordered sequence over the whole farm. 

 The rotation would be very elastic, the guiding 

 principle being to break up all the leys while they 

 were still fertile and full of clover. It is important 

 in this connection to realize that in many districts 

 fields can be successfully re-seeded down to grass 

 immediately they are broken, and without being put 

 through a rotation in the old sense of the word. I 

 was, in conjunction with my friend Mr. Stanley M. 

 Bligh of Cilmery, Builth Wells, engaged with experi- 

 ments on these lines when the war broke out, and it 

 was found that seeds mixtures could be put down 

 with excellent results on a newly-ploughed turf under 

 a crop like rape, or under a single corn crop. It 

 is also a fact that the number of arable crops that 

 succeed to perfection on a newly-ploughed turf is by 

 no means limited. For, as well as oats, the potato, 

 and frequently wheat, we have neglected crops like 

 linseed and rye, forage crops, such as rape, and even 

 roots; for instance, the yellow turnip often produces 

 normal crops from a newly-broken ley. Wire-worm 

 is probably the greatest difficulty to be contended 

 with, but it is doubtful if wire-worm is as bad after 

 short-ley turf as after older turf; and, in any event, 

 agricultural science is likely soon to rise superior to 

 the wire-worm. 



Whatever view may be taken by competent agri- 

 cultural reformers as to the rival merits of arable and 

 grass-land farming, the war has taught us that our 

 systems of farming should be flexible, so that altered 

 methods may quickly be adopted to meet altered con- 

 ditions. The outlook for the future is so complex 

 and uncertain that nobody can prophesy with any 

 degree of accuracy what food-stuffs it may be in the 



