Comparative Projit of Cheese and B utter-Mali iii</, S^-c. 343 



mutton, and corn ; and with improved condition ot land corners 

 deci-ease of expense in cultivation ; and thus his profit will yearly 

 go on increasing, the ultimate result being most beneficial alike 

 to himself and his landlord. 



As regards the laljour attending the practice of these systems 

 of farming, that of grazing has a decided advantage over the 

 others, not only in out-door labour, as shown in the accounts of 

 expenditure, but also in the labour and responsibility saved 

 in-doors, since the care and management of milk in any way 

 entails much of both, and requires an amount of skill that has 

 often to be remunerated at a very high rate. 



One of the best indications of the progressive improvement 

 attendant on this system of grazing is obtained by one simply 

 observing the very great difference in the quality of the dung- 

 heaps collected under the respective systems, the comparatively 

 cold, aqueous appearance of that produced from milking-stock 

 contrasting remarkably with the fermenting, oily nature of 

 that collected from fattening-beasts. The effect of this differ- 

 ence upon the farm must be obvious to any one. In fact, I 

 have myself watched its progressive effect under good manage- 

 ment with extreme satisfaction, seeing the ordinary condition 

 of the farm rise gradually to that of high cultivation ; the 

 weeds disappearing as the crops become stronger, and the land 

 being more easily worked as it becomes more disintegrated 

 by the more luxuriant growth of the herbage upon it. Here 

 I cannot but state the particular attention paid by the farmers 

 of this district (North Cheshire) to the mode of seeding down 

 their pastures, which, coupled with the clean fallow or green 

 croji, is undoubtedly, after draining, the foundation of all 

 good farming, and the secret of success in the cases now under 

 my notice. By attention to this particular, a sod is obtained by 

 the aid of bones, which, after a few years' growth, is equal to 

 that produced in the ordinary way by twenty years' ley ; and ex- 

 perience shows me that a good sod that breaks up oily and mellow 

 through the action of the fibres of luxuriant herbage, conduces 

 more to a good and inexpensive course of crops than any manure 

 that can possibly be applied artificially, to say nothing of the 

 economy of restricting the need for such manures ; for, after all, 

 artificial manures are but a defective substitute for the elements 

 as naturally combined in a virgin soil. 



Holding these views, and considering the present scarcity and 

 consequent high price of beef and mutton, 1 cannot commend 

 too strongly a system so conducive to the mutual advantage of 

 both tenant and landlord as that of grazing. 



Dunham Massey, Altricham. 



