42 ON THE AGRICULTURE OF THE COUNTY OF FIFE. 



much extended. In seventeen counties in Scotland the area 

 annually under hay or sown grass is equal to, or exceeds the 

 total acreage under corn crops, while in Fifeshire the area under 

 hay and grass falls short of that under corn crops by 31,897 

 acres. This shows most strikingly the marvellously small 

 amount of grass that is grown in the county of Fife. On almost 

 every farm worked on six shifts, more than one-half of the field 

 sown with grass seeds is retained as hay, and is thus available 

 as pasture only after the hay is stacked. And even then much 

 of it is not used as pasture, a second crop being taken in many 

 cases for food to animals in the house. Of the 56,430 acres 

 sown with grass seeds, upwards of 24,500 acres are kept as hay, 

 thus leaving less than 32,000 acres as pasture grass. Very fine 

 crops of hay are grown; and considering the exhausted state 

 which most of the land must be in before it reaches the sixth 

 shift, it is most surprising that they should be so very superior. 

 Xo better testimony of the natural richness of the Fifeshire soil 

 could be adduced, than the excellent crops of hay it produces at 

 the end of such a trying system of rotation as that which obtains 

 in the greater portion of the county. And not only does it aftbrd 

 an excellent crop of hay, but an aftermath or " second crop," 

 which we have not seen equalled for weight and quality in any 

 part of Scotland. When pastured, the grass stands out admir- 

 ably well, and is of the finest quality. Where two years' grass 

 is taken, the covering of the second year is on the whole very 

 good, in some cases very excellent. It is held by a good many 

 of the Fifeshire farmers that the heavier and stronger soils of 

 the county are not adapted for grass, and won't grow it satis- 

 factorily for two successive years. We do not doubt there is 

 some ground for this argument in a few cases ; but we are clearly 

 of opinion that careful preparation would obviate much of the 

 difficulty. We think that if the land were sown out in good 

 heart and well limed, — much of the soil of the county would be 

 none the worse for a good dose of lime, — grass would grow at 

 least moderately well for two successive years. Perhaps of all 

 the different kinds of farm crops, none tests the manurial condi- 

 tion of the soil better than a two or three years' succession of 

 grass. Unless the land is in good heart, and well cleaned and 

 cultivated when sown out, it cannot be expected that a rich 

 covering of grass would continue for a succession of years ; and 

 it must be admitted that much of the Fifeshire land is sown out 

 in only a moderately rich manurial state. We have already 

 given it as our opinion that it would be highly profitable to the 

 Fifeshire farmers to adopt the seven-shift system of rotation in 

 place of the present six shifts, and we have every confidence 

 that before many years have past a good many will have intro- 

 duced the change. In fact, a number have already done it, and 



