RErORT OF THE AGRICULTURE OF AYRSHIRE. 61 



ploughing when other folks were hard at sowing. No soil in 

 Scotland, considering the climate, could be more benefited by 

 steam-ploughing than that of Ayrshire, Mr. Weir's apparatus, 

 we believe, has done nothing since its first season. 



There are at present four portable steam-thrashing-mills tra- 

 velling the county, although every farm, save the extremely 

 small holdings, possesses a fixed thrashing-machine, commonly 

 wrought by horse-power, in some cases driven by water, and in 

 a very few comparatively by steam. 



SECTION IV. 



General State of the Grass Lands— Ryegrass-seed Preserving — Hill or 

 Bog Meadow-Land, and sown-down " Irrigation Meadows" — Artifi- 

 cial Grasses— Drainage — Liming, &c. 



" Blessed is he who causeth two blades of grass to grow 

 where only one grew before." One may be able to form a better 

 notion of the state of the grass-lands, by first getting an account 

 of the pernicious and unthrifty practice of seeding the ryegrass 

 hay-crop, very generally followed in all the inland districts. 

 This practice continues firm and constant, and, if anything, is 

 on the increase. The amount of seed annually saved has more 

 than doubled within the last 25 years. Ayrshire now, certainly, 

 is not alone in the practice, but it originated here, and this county 

 always has been its headquarters. Ayrshire of all other districts 

 in Scotland should be the last to foster the pernicious custom. 

 Tillage operations, or raising of roots, corn, and seeds, on purely 

 dairy farms, ought always to be merely subservient, and subor- 

 dinate to the grass-feeding of the milch cows. How to improve 

 his grass-fields, especially in these years of high prices for cheese, 

 butter, and young cattle, ought to press most heavily on the 

 dairy farmer's mind, but so far from this being the case, the cul- 

 tivation of good pasture is without doubt the most neglected 

 branch of farming over all the West of Scotland. The reporter 

 purposes, therefore, to take a brief survey of the evil effects 

 attendant on the practice of ryegrass-seedsaving, which may be 

 styled the " peculiar institution" of Ayrshire. With respect to 

 it, to gratify avarice or need, good husbandry and ultimate gain 

 are sacrificed. 



The produce of seed per imperial acre over Ayrshire ranges 

 from 12 to 30 bushels, and in exceptional cases even more, but 22 

 bushels may be set down as a full average; and in placing the 

 average price to farmers at 3s. per bushel for the last 20 years, 

 full justice is done to the credit side of seed. The " broke" and 

 " cleanings" are worth about 5s. per acre for boiling uses, 

 although, properly speaking, the farmer would have got the be- 

 nefit of these even had the grass been green-cut. There is no 



