cultivator will prove useful, and a dressing of lime (from 1 

 to 2 tons per acre) will greatly aid decay. If the soil is 

 sandy, lime should be used sparingly, and ground limestone 

 is preferable to burnt lime. The lime should be applied 

 either several months before ploughing, or as soon as the 

 furrow has been turned. When the turf is thin, as 

 it usually is in the case of long leys and Chalk pastures, 

 the time and type of ploughing will depend on local condi- 

 tions. The experience of Wiltshire and Hampshire favours 

 spring ploughing ; but in many other cases, especially where 

 the soil is raw and deficient in lime, exposure to frost is 

 most desirable, and an effort should be made to turn the 

 furrow before the end of January. Where the farmer owns 

 a drill, a flat furrow will probably be best, as the land is then 

 more easily consolidated ; but 4f, as is usual in hilly dis- 

 tricts, the oats are to be sown broadcast, then the plough 

 should be set to turn the ordinary ley furrow from 5 to 6 

 inches deep and 8 to 9 inches wide. This furrow must be 

 thoroughly well consolidated ; the later the ploughing, the 

 thicker the turf and the drier the district, the more necessary 

 the use of the roller becomes. The harrow must, of course, 

 be used as often as may be necessary, and if harrowing be- 

 gins before the ploughed land has settled down, short tines 

 or a spiked chain harrow will be desirable in the first 

 instance, so as to avoid bringing up the turf. When ploughing 

 is delayed until after the end of January, a flat furrow is 

 likely to prove best, even when the crop is sown broadcast. 



Good Grass on Medium or Light Land. An inch or two 

 of additional depth may altogether alter the character of the 

 grass, and soils of the type discussed above may gradually 

 shade from medium to good, or even rich, grass land within 

 the same enclosure. Thus, in ploughing up a 20-acre field, 

 it may frequently happen that 5 or 6 acres at the lower or 

 more sheltered side may (partly from the natural quality of 

 the soil, and partly because stock have favoured it) consist 

 of very fine land in such high condition that an oat crop 

 would lodge. This type of soil should be planted with pota- 

 toes. No farmyard manure will be necessary. A dressing 

 of 3 to 4 cwt. superphosphate, 1 cwt. to 1^ cwt. sulphate of 

 ammonia and some potash manure, such as flue dust, supply- 

 ing the equivalent of 2-3 cwt. kainit, will suffice. If no 

 potash is available and the soil is light, a small dressing of 

 farmyard manure is desirable. If the sod is very thick it 

 must be thoroughly broken, otherwise there will be difficulty 

 in moulding up the potato crop ; to break the turf, disc 

 harrow the surface thoroughly, then plough deeply, using a 

 skim coulter to bury the vegetation. (See Case No. 129.) 

 If no disc harrow is available, plough shallow early in winter, 

 break up the sod with a drag harrow and plough under with 

 a deep furrow. In the case of land which is medium in 



