On Grass Land. 419 



pensive teams to subdue it, in the short period of the year 

 when it could be ploughed with success, and that the pro- 

 duce it would yield, would be uncertain ; whereas when top- 

 dressed with rich dung from London, this land is stated to 

 be worth of rent, from three to six or seven pounds per 

 English acre, and that some parts of it have, in some parti- 

 cular instances, fetched a rent of L.IO per acre. The ave- 

 rage produce is about two tons of hay per English acre. 



These opinions, however, may be disputed. The diffi- 

 culty of tilling this land, cannot be greater than that of other 

 stubborn clay land, millions of acres of which are cultivated 

 every year. The teams that plough other clay land, would 

 till this, and in the periods of the year when such land is 

 ploughed elsewhere. Neither can there be any uncer- 

 tainty in the produce, more than in other clay land. 

 Were such land in Scotland, with dung at command, these 

 70,000 acres of clay land, might be rendered four times 

 more productive of human food, and would give much more 

 rent than at present. If such land were limed with stone 

 lime on the sward, a year or two before being ploughed, it 

 might yield at least eight or nine quarters of oats per Eng- 

 lish acre, beans and pease of equal value, or more value, for 

 a second crop, and wheat, at the rate of from five to six quar- 

 ters per acre, for the third crop ; and if then sown with grass 

 seeds, more than two tons of hay might be expected, and the 

 pasture would be better than before. Indeed, by any proper 

 rotation, for sjx or eight years, with a reasonable supply of 

 manure, judiciously applied, returns equal to those above 

 mentioned, might easily be raised every year ; and if turn- 

 ed into pasture, say for three years, and fallowed one season 

 out of twelve, a similar course might be again followed, with 

 the certainty of reaping crops of equal value, for another 

 rotation, while the land would always become richer. By 

 such courses, thrice the number of people might be per- 

 manently employed, and an immense addition made to the 

 quantity of human food. To keep 70,000 acres of valuable 

 clay land, situated so near the metropolis, where dung is so 

 abundant and cheap, and where straw, and every species of 

 farm produce sell so high, and to receive in return only 

 two tons of hay per acre, is such wretched management, 

 as ought to be exposed and reprobated. 



If the same land were applied to the raising of green crops, 

 what a difference would there be in point of produce ! Those 

 very fields, now permanently appropriated to hay meadows, 

 with such miserable returns, might, under proper management, 



