CHAPTER IX 



ARABLE OR GRASS? 



HAVING finished off an earlier chapter by a 

 dive into farming principles, I will make an 

 effort to set out a few facts and features on arable 

 farming on which experience has given me an 

 object lesson. I am well aware that what I shall 

 record will be already known to many of my con- 

 temporaries, but even they will, I am sure, agree 

 that it is not a bad principle to refresh one's memory 

 from time to time. Certainly a little reflection 

 keeps one from running off at a tangent in a hurry. 



During the last half-century arable farming has 

 undergone many changes, the fact that arable acres 

 have continued to fall since the last war is strong 

 evidence that without careful management and 

 what I call a dovetailing principle, arable farming 

 has been a difficult proposition for many years. But 

 I do feel that, with the proviso I have mentioned, 

 there has never been the necessity for the radical 

 change which has possessed the minds of some 

 people. 



We have certain gentleman writers who have 

 glorified the grass farmer to a pedestal of fame. 

 They would seem to infer that a farmer to get a 



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