4 PEKMANKNT AND TEMPORAKY PASTURES. 



vatioii, and also because there is less scope for tlie eiiiployiiient 

 of labour on Lrrass laud than on arai)le. 



rufortunatcly, the (jncstioii which aLfriculturists have to 

 fat"e ij" not whicii system will jiiddiicc most lood and employ most 

 labourers, but by which can land be farmed at a ])rorit. tSurely 

 no one can be expected to till the soil at a rninous loss, unless the 

 nation, whicli is siipj)osed to benefit by it, is ])re])ared to refund 

 the loss out of the i)ublic purse. Until it is considered reasonable 

 that nu'ii shoidd betfixar themselves for the national trood, those 

 who are at the time responsible for the land nuist be left free 

 to cultivate it in the way that is most likely to yield some return 

 for the eaj)ital and skill devoted to the business. 



I do not suggest that an extension of pastures in every part 

 of the country will confer the highest social or economic benefits 

 upon England, but it will certainly help to save many farmers 

 from conducting their vocation at a loss, enable them to manajze 

 their holdings with a reduced capital, and cut down a labour 

 bill that is now too heavy for their means. Farming may never 

 airain be a very lucrative business; but if grass largely takes the 

 place of corn, and the land be freed from some of the charges 

 upon it, the present crisis may be surmounted. 



The laying down of land to grass appears to me to be quite 

 as much a question for landowners as for tenants. The former 

 have a direct interest in promoting the movement, as a means of 

 avoiding the deterioration of their land, and of attracting tenants 

 to their farms. 



I quite admit that there are large tracts of land in this 

 country whicli are unsuited for the formation of permanent pas- 

 tures, because the finer grasses die out, and the soil gradually 

 becomes filled with worthless varieties which are indii^enous to it. 

 Much of the prejudice existing against the making of pastures has 

 been caused by fruitless attempts to coerce Nature. But there is 

 no farm land with which I am acquaiijled that will not profitably 

 respond to the alternate system alluded to in the chapter on 

 ' Temporai-y Pastures.' The advantages of that system, however, 



