110 BRITISH HUSBANDRY. [Ch. VII. 



both from these, and from information personally received from persons 

 well acquainted with it, the cultivation is described as being generally con- 

 fined to the continued production of potatoes and grain, with some patches of 

 flax ; and the land, after being thus rendered foul and exhausted, is suf- 

 fered to recruit itself as best it may, by being left for a series of years under 

 natural pasture. 



Although possessing a more genial climate, and more favoured in soil 

 than almost any other part of the United Kingdom, consequently better 

 adapted to the growth of every crop which can be produced in this quarter 

 of Europe ; and although, from the redundancy of the population, labour 

 is below its value, yet the produce of the land is inferior. It is, indeed, 

 extensively under the plough, and, from the large exportations of corn and 

 cattle, it might be supposed that its husbandry must be flourishing ; but, 

 when compared with that of this country, it is in a very backward state. 

 This, however, cannot be entirely attributed to the farmers, who are neither 

 wanting in industry nor shrewdness ; but their holdings are almost invariably 

 small, they are deficient in capital, and they meet with but little encourage- 

 ment from their landlords. The great estates are chiefly in the hands of 

 absentees, who generally entrust the management to attorneys, who are 

 more careful of the collection of the rent than the cultivation of the 

 land ; though, were the latter better attended to, both might be materially 

 improved. 



SUMMARY. 



The various rotations which we have enumerated are generally confined, 

 it will be observed, to single courses ; but, in repeating them, although the 

 same corn may in most cases be again grown, yet the green crops should 

 be frequently changed, for they admit a greater variety, and, even sup- 

 posing the land to be in every respect well cultivated, it tires of some of 

 them more readily than it does of grain. Thus turnips and clover, when 

 reiterated, are often known to fail, and although the Norfolk system, 

 which is generally described as consisting of a repetition of the same seeds, 

 has been recommended as constituting the best principles of cropping, yet 

 a change is sometimes necessary ; therefore, were those crops sown only 

 once in eight years instead of four, with the substitution on very light soils, 

 of rye for one of the crops of wheat, it would, no doubt, be found moxe 

 advantageous. 



The situation of the land, in point of as})ect and elevation, must also be 

 considered, as well as the nature of the soil ; for climate is a point of the 

 first importance in the choice of all crops. Thus although, generally speak- 

 ing, the south of England has the advantage in respect of climate, yet 

 finer oats and weightier crops of turnips are grown in the north ; from the 

 usual lateness of the season, too, wheat is there not only sown when the 

 winter is far advanced, but frequently in the spiing, and generally along 

 with clover ; whereas, in the south, wheat is usually got in before the 

 close of autumn, and clover almost always follows barley or oats. Lucerne, 

 which forms a valuable grass, during several vears, on our light and sandy 

 soils, cannot be grown with advantage in the cold of Scotland. Sainfoin, 

 which is extensively grown on the chalky soils of this country, is also 

 there unknown ; and, doubtless from the deficiency which there exists of 

 that peculiar quality of land, their permanent meadows are inferior to 

 ours ; while in Ireland, both from the land lying generally upon a lime- 

 stone bottom, and from the mildness as well as humidity of the climate, 

 the pasture is in most places greatly superior. 



