TEMPORAKY PASTUEES. 123 



tion to otlier crops besides wheat, and discontinue flogging tlie 

 dead horse. The oft-repeated statement that our land is only fit 

 for wheat-growing is erroneous and results in a practice that is 

 economically false. I am fully persuaded that the general adop- 

 tion of tlie alternate system will prove at least a partial remedy 

 for the evil. In itself the system of temporary pastures is good, 

 and a means of good, for it opens up a less ruinous method of 

 farming with a much smaller capital than is sufficient for the 

 conduct of a purely arable farm. It has been said with truth 

 that the immediate return from grass land is not so high as 

 from arable ; and while farmers were paying high rents they 

 could not afford to dispense with a crop like wheat, which could 

 readily be turned into money. TJiis argument takes no account 

 of the continued outlay a wheat crop involves, and which 

 more than absorbs the price it at present fetches. But now that 

 rents are being generally reduced, there no longer remains this 

 excuse for losing the advantage to be derived from temporary 

 pastures. 



My esteemed friend, Mr. John Chalmers Morton, has pub- 

 lished remarks on this subject which are worthy of attention. 

 He says: — 



' It is honestly believed by many that great loss has come, 

 both to landlords and tenants in England, because they have per- 

 sistently continued to cherish good hopes of a wheat harvest as 

 year succeeded year. 



' Let us be sure that it is an economical sin to carry on a 

 trade year after year at a loss. We are turning a deaf ear to the 

 teachings of Providence, oft repeated, as long as we continue to 

 attempt to grow wheat on cold and worn-out arable land. It is 

 our old turf that has kept the agriculture of England going for 

 many years past. Much encouragement is held out for a great 

 development in dairy farming and stock production. But mean- 

 while many of those who actually make a profit in the items of 

 milk and stock throw that profit away. Metaphorically, the 

 mixed farms of our midlands are now pouring their milk down 



