VI] CHEQUERED CAREER OF THE CLAYS 99 



reliable than swedes on clay land and, together with 

 cabbage, which also does well, affords valuable suc- 

 culent food to the animals, while on the lighter fields 

 of the farm swedes can also be grown. Much food 

 has to be purchased — brewers' grains and cotton cake 

 being special favourites — and this contributes to the 

 fertility of the land. Large quantities of manure 

 are also imported, for mangolds respond perhaps 

 more than any other crop to liberal treatment, and 

 are found to yield most profit when well manured. 

 Thus the fertility of the arable land is being pushed 

 well up. But the mainstay of clay farming is the 

 grass land. Grass is the cheapest and easiest crop 

 to raise and is steadily gaining ground at the expense 

 of the arable crops. Temporary pastures figure 

 very prominently, particularly in northern systems 

 of agriculture. Magnificent permanent pastures are 

 found on some of the better clays of Leicestershire, 

 and on the low-lying alluvial flats round the estuaries 

 of some of the rivers and elsewhere ; some of these 

 with very little trouble will carry and fatten live 

 stock. Over large areas, however, the grassland is 

 poor, but it is now receiving considerable attention. 

 Although for years it often carried nothing more 

 than a poor, thin growth of weeds and grass it really 

 did not need any very great outlay to be considerably 

 improved. A dressing of 10 cwt. of basic slag per 

 acre has often a wonderful efiect in increasing the 



7—2 



