ON THE MANAGEMENT OF GKASS LANDS IN ENGLAND. 115 



overspread the whole surface. One acre of rich old turf may be 

 made in this way to inoculate 10 or 12 acres. The plan was 

 popular at. one time, and considered a certain method of pro- 

 ducing a permanent pasture, and it is occasionally practised still. 

 "We have seen several farmers who have laid down some of their 

 fields in that way, but they do not seem to be much in love with 

 it. In the days of cheap wages, 50s. an acre covered the cost, 

 but the mere labour does not include all, for there is the rent of 

 the land, and the deterioration of the ground from which the turf 

 is removed. 



To ascribe, as most people do, the difficulty of obtaining a rich 

 sward in newdy laid down land, and keeping it in an improving 

 state during the first few^ years, to climate only, cannot be 

 accepted in the face of opposing facts. In many places England 

 possesses pastures as good as are to be found anywhere. We 

 have w^alked over the fattening grazings of Limerick, which rent 

 from L.4 to L.6 an acre; and w^e don't think that the marshes 

 on the Thames, or the wealthy pastures of Aylesbury Vale, are 

 much behind Limerick with its moister and milder climate. 

 Before w^e first visited the Vale of Aylesbury we had heard of the 

 luxuriance and emerald beauty of its fields, and the sight of them 

 even early in April, did not belie their repute.'"^ The greatest 

 number of oxen kept on these pastures are Herefords ; but short- 

 horns as well as Devons are common. On the best farms there 

 is generally a small portion of arable land, and also a limited area 

 mowed for hay. The stock are purchased in the spring, and sold 

 off fat after July down to the end of the grazing season ; but a 

 few are kept on till Christmas, and fed on hay and cake. The 

 dairying pastures of the Aylesbury district are far more extensive 

 than the fattening grounds, and consist of secondary and inferior 

 land, which are mostly cold and heavy. On the richest lands 

 dairy cows are prone to fatten, rather than to yield much milk. 

 The finest grazings carry tw^o heavy bullocks and two ewes with 

 their lambs on every three acres ; but the dairyman, as well as 

 the feeder, keeps a limited stock in winter, and what he winters 

 are kept on a limited stock of roots. 



The analysis of the soil from the farm of Putlowes (one of the 

 best grazing farms in the vale) is recorded in vol. xvi. of the 

 Journal of the Eoyal Agricultural Society of England. Con- 

 sidering the luxuriance and fattening quality of the herbage, it 

 will be instructive to quote that analysis, and for the sake of 

 comparison, we insert in parallel lines the analysis of a boulder 



* The story of the farm of Creslow is well known in the district, and being so 

 notable, may be told again. A late occupier, at a time when war prices were 

 obtained, sold twenty Christmas oxen at the average price of L. 106, 6s., amount- 

 ing in all to the great sum of L.2123. We believe that price has neither before 

 nor since been exceeded for the same number of bullocks, fattened by one man and 

 sold to the butcher. 



