358 DEVON GREENERY 



ally hardly to be called a clay. The farm extended 

 to some 250 acres, of which about 30 acres were under 

 crop, the usual custom being to leave the seeds down 

 for three years or more, and then to take a crop of 

 corn, one of roots, and another corn crop, in which the 

 seeds were again sown. It was not, however, necessary 

 on this farm to let the cropping move over the whole 

 area, for the best of the grassland was permanent 

 pasture that would have been damaged by ploughing 

 up. Wheat had almost disappeared from the district, 

 and barley alone was little grown, the staple corn 

 crops being oats and dredge corn, both of which were 

 consumed upon the farm. As usual on a heavy- 

 stocked farm worked on a rotation that keeps the land 

 down for three years in grass, the difficulty with the 

 corn crops was to keep them standing. The soil gets 

 in too high a condition, because some extra food, often 

 a great deal, is sure to be given to the stock grazing 

 the seeds, and the intervening root crop receives all the 

 dung made on a farm that is large compared to the 

 extent under the plough. When one considers 

 the possibilities of intensive farming and the raising 

 of the level of production, it is well to remember that 

 over a large part of Great Britain the factor which to-day 

 chiefly limits the yield of grain per acre is the lack of 

 sufficiently stiff-strawed varieties. Manure is in excess, 

 with good cultivation and in average seasons the 

 rainfall is sufficient for crops of double the usual size, 

 yet no existing variety of wheat, barley, or oats can 

 live up to its opportunities except in most favourable 

 seasons. That farmers recognize this limitation is seen 

 in the prevalence of names like " stiff straw," " stand 

 up," etc., among cereals, and generally the first question 

 a farmer asks about a new wheat concerns the straw 

 rather than the grain. 



