Preface to Third Edition. xiii 



partment ; our correspondence has reached far 

 beyond these islands, and it may be of interest to 

 mention that we have heard on the subject, either 

 directly or indirectly, from India, Chili, Peru, the 

 Argentine Republic, the Antipodes, and Canada. 

 From the many confirmatory opinions I have 

 received I quote the following from a Roxburgh- 

 shire tenant farmer, as it illustrates so conclusively 

 the national importance of the work that has been 

 carried to most successful results at Clifton-on- 

 Bowmont. The passage, I may mention, has 

 already appeared in my letter in the Times, under 

 the heading of " Agricultural Depression," on 

 October 12, 19C^. The tenant farmer alluded to 

 writes as follows : — 



" From the short experience I have had on my farm of 

 practising a modification of your system I am now thoroughly 

 convinced that most of the poor land in this country could be 

 profitably farmed and give more employment to labour than it 

 possibly can do at present. Clifton-on-Bowmont proves beyond 

 question how much can be done to cheapen production and 

 maintain the fertility of the land through natural and scientific 

 methods. Your example should prove a guide and a warning 

 to many who would run to extremes in laying too much land, 

 thought worthless for growing crops, to grass of inferior quality. 

 Such land can never be profitably held in that way. Clifton- 

 on-Bowmont teaches a different lesson, and conclusively proves 

 that much poor land going out of cultivation, and carrying a 

 poor, short stock in consequence, can be successfully cropped by 

 a proper rotation ; and that, instead of driving more people off 

 the land to make room for a few sheep, it can be made to give 

 employment to more people, and produce much more and better 

 sheep. This is the first year I have adopted your system as 



