844 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. 



pecting the propriety of occasionally appropriating them to arable culture, there can 

 hardly be a doubt. Such lands do not depend upon their intrinsic fertility, but upon 

 annual supplies of manure derived from the arable land in their neighborhood. 



SuBSECT. 2. Of the Advantages and Disadvantages of breaking up Grass Lands. 



5272. The advantages of breaking up grass lands, not of the richest quality, will 

 appear by a comparison of their produce with that of arable lands. From the inquiry of 

 the Board of Agriculture, it appears that an acre of clover, tares, rape, potatoes, turnips, 

 cole, or cabbages, M'ill furnish at least thrice as much food as the same acre would have 

 done had it remained in pasture of a medium quality ; and consequently, that the same 

 extent of land would maintain at least as much stock as when in grass ; besides pro- 

 ducing every other year a valuable crop of corn ; and this, independently of the value 

 of the straw, which, whether consumed as litter, or as food for cattle, will add consider- 

 ably to the stock of manure. It follows that with the exception of rich pastures, arable 

 land is, on an average, superior to grass land with respect to furnishing articles of human 

 food in the proportion of three to one ; and consequently every piece of land, unneces- 

 sarily kept in grass, the produce of which will only maintain one person, is depriving 

 the community of food, capable of maintaining two additional members. 



5273. The principal objection to the conversion of old turf into arable land, arises from 

 an alleged inferiority in the new when compared to the old herbage ; a complaint which 

 probably originates either from the improper choice of seeds, or from giving them in too 

 small quantities, thus favoring the growth of weeds. A gentleman who had a large 

 farm, principally consisting of strong rich clay, (every field of which, with hardly an 

 exception, he occasionally broke up) was accustomed to lay them down with a crop of 

 barley, and to sow fourteen pounds of white clover, a peck of rib-grass, and three 

 quarters of hay-seeds per acre. By this liberal allowance of seed, he always secured a 

 thick coat of herbage the first year, which differed from old pasture only in being more 

 luxuriant. Such lands, therefore, under judicious management, will rarely be injured 

 by the plough. When laid down from tillage into grass, they may not carry for the first 

 year or two, such heavy cattle as they would afterwards, but they will support more in 

 number, though of a smaller size, and bring a greater weight of butcher meat to 

 market. It is often desirable to keep one or two moderate-sized enclosures, of from ten 

 to twenty acres, according to the size of the farm, in perennial pasture, for the feeding 

 of cattle and sheep ; and as a resource for the stock to go to in case of a severe 

 spring, or summer drought ; but the retaining of any considerable portion of a farm 

 in old turf, or permanent pasture, unless of the richest quality, is, in general, in- 

 jurious to the landlord, the tenant, and the public. The value of any estate, where 

 the system of permanent pasture has been carried to an unreasonable extent, may be 

 easily and greatly augmented by appropriating the manure of the farm to turnips 

 and other green crops, and by the adoption of the convertible system of husbandry. 



5274. There are many cases where this doctrine, though in general to be recommended, 

 ought not to be carried to its full extent. In Norfolk, where the land is commonly light, 

 and where sheep are both bred and fed upon the same farm, a proportion of permanent 

 pasture is essential. Much injury in particular has been sustained by breaking up per- 

 manent pastures on such soils, more especially when subject to rectorial tithes. Many 

 lands of an inferior soil, which kept two sheep on an acre, paying only vicarial tithes, 

 and rented at ten shillings per acre, since they have been broken up, cannot pay, even 

 without rent, the tithe of corn and the expense of cultivation. A farm in general lets 

 best, with a fair proportion of grass land upon it, which admits of a mixed management, 

 in consequence of which, if one object fail, another may be successful. 



5275. With respect to the disadvantages of breaking up pastures, it is alleged in The 

 Code of Agriculture, that there is a risk of tenants breaking through their engagements 

 (p. 473, 3d edit.), by which we suppose is to be understood their chance of their taking a 

 few good crops from the newly-broke- up lands, and then leaving the farm. Tenants 

 who would do this must certainly be as wicked, as the landlords who would put it in 

 their power would be imbecile. No other disadvantage is stated, and this may safely 

 be left to work its own cure. 



SuBSECT. 3. Of breaking up Grass Lands, and afterwards restoring them to Grass. 



5276. On the subject of breaking up and laying down grass lands, the following parti- 

 culars are discussed in The Code of Agriculture, as the result of the information commu- 

 nicated to the Board. Whether any previous steps are necessary before lands in grass are 

 broken up ; the proper mode of effecting that object ; the course of crops ; the manure 

 necessary ; the system of management during the rotation ; the mode of laying down 

 the land again to grass ; that of sowing the grass-seeds ; and, the subsequent manage- 

 ment. 



5277. If the land be wet, it is advisable to drain it completely, previous to its being 



