After the Repeal of the Corn- laws 59 



acres, and permanent pasture by two million acres 1 . These figures 

 prove clearly that the expansion of pasture-farming, the beginning of 

 which had been noted by Caird on his tour in 1851, was proceeding 

 rapidly. 



But it would be a mistake to suppose that at this time pasture- 

 farming was already playing a leading part in English agriculture. 

 The fact was that now at last that combination of arable and pasture 

 so strongly recommended by the theorists of earlier times had come 

 into being. It is true that to some extent pasture-farming had 

 become an end in itself, under the influence of the high profits obtain- 

 able on meat. But it was also a means to an end ; a means, namely, 

 of making corn-growing profitable or more profitable. When the 

 corn-laws were abolished it became clear to every agriculturist that 

 pasture must be extended if plough-land was still to be cultivated at 

 a profit. Only by keeping more beasts could the land be provided 

 with the necessary amount of natural manure, and a better rotation 

 of crops, especially an increase of root-crops, be introduced. On this 

 followed the rise in meat-prices, making pasture-farming desirable for 

 its own sake. There was no longer any economic hindrance to the 

 general introduction of a proper rotation ; it had become profitable to 

 increase the live-stock kept. On light soils, or so-called turnip-lands, 

 such rotations had long been adopted, since it was impossible to grow 

 corn there otherwise 2 . The question was more difficult on the com- 

 moner heavy clay soils. Here the wetness of the land was a hindrance 

 to the introduction of a wider range of crops 3 , which could only be 

 overcome by expensive drainage operations. While live-stock re- 

 mained unprofitable the drainage of such lands was not undertaken, 

 and consequently the rotation of crops was not introduced. But from 

 the moment when pasture-farming promised large profits, drainage 

 began, since it had become worth while to introduce the rotation even 

 at heavy cost. Thus it was pasture-farming which led to improved 

 methods of arable farming, a result which naturally in its turn led to 

 an increased production of corn 4 . The quantity of manure available 



1 Statistical Abstracts, No. iS, p. 119. 



2 The light soils were accordingly held to be less profitable than the heavy clay soils until 

 the expansion of pasture-farming, because the rotation of crops was expensive so long as live- 

 stock brought no profit. Cp. Levy, Die Not etc., pp. 83 f. ; Brown, A Treatise etc., Vol. II, 

 pp. 468 ff. ; and J. Russel, A Treatise on Practical and Chemical Agriculture, 1830, p. 71. 



3 See e.g. R. N. Bacon, Report on the Agriculture of Norfolk, 1844, p. 33. 



4 The rotation of crops as practised on light soils (see note i above) had so increased their 

 corn-production, that, though at one time supposed to be unsuited to arable, in 1850 they 

 could produce corn much more cheaply than the characteristic English wheat-land, that is to 

 say the heavy clay. Caird, English Agriculture, p. 476. 



