There is no Bad Land 39 



quality and long life, chiefly white clover and 

 crested dogstail, which, if not grown to seed, 

 makes admirable pasture for young cattle. In so 

 far as I can see, the crested dogstail is the only 

 superior grass indigenous to our part of Ireland, 

 though Timothy appears to assert its right of 

 existence quite as successfully with me. On this 

 field, about a hundredweight of milk is consumed 

 daily for a large part of the milking season, and 

 then there is the consumption of the solids fed 

 in the milk. This appears to maintain the 

 fertility, which must go down without it, but 

 then, is there any soil that can maintain its 

 production without some return in manuring 

 from the consumption of the produce or its 

 equivalent ? 



Let us now consider the cost. Seven cwt. of 

 potassic superphosphates, then at 4 2s. per ton = 

 i 93. per acre. Allow an equal sum for labour 

 and the dung on two acres of the plot. We are 

 still probably within 3 an acre, but it is hard to 

 be quite accurate with the labour element. For 

 instance, the cost of making the fences would 

 have to be deducted from that of making the 

 drains in place of them, and the deepening of the 

 stream is more benefit to other fields than to this. 

 Then there are the " broken " days. In hay 

 time, the morning is wet, and we go draining. 

 At 10 45 we go back to the hay, and I have not 

 been able to ascertain every trifle of this kind. 

 What I can do accurately is to estimate the cost of 

 the work when done, and this will make the whole 



