70 Winter and Spring Pood from Pastures. 



of the tanner impel biiii to manage his pastures badly, 

 but, from my own expeiience in the case of an excellent 

 tenant of my own, I can see that it is more often owing 

 to a inixture of carelessness and want of skill that 

 pastures are mismanaged, and the tenant in question, 

 from his attention and judgment in judiciously shifting 

 his stock, has at once more stock and more grass on 

 his land than any farmer in this part of the country. 

 I was particularly struck with this point in the case of 

 one of my grass parks, which was let to him for two 

 consecutive seasons. It consisted of grass in the third 

 and fourth years — the proverbially trying fourth year — 

 and yet he kept more stock on it than has been kept 

 on my best old pastures, which were let to tenants, 

 while all the time the field had an ample supply of 

 grass. 



I turn, lastly, to the consideration of the subject of 

 the management of pastures, so as to obtain from them 

 the greatest amount of winter and early spring food, 

 so that we may be able to maintain our flocks in the 

 most satisfactory manner, and with the smallest possible 

 assistance from root crops ; for, as Sir John Lawes has 

 pointed out, if we deduct the litter and food required 

 for horses, grass land can produce more stock than 

 arable, and it must always be remembered that the 

 cheapest food we can grow for stock is grass. The last 

 is a fact that seems to have been long ago perceived, 

 as the reader who has read the last chapter will 

 remember, and the bearing of it on our present agri- 

 cultural conditions, and the deduction that should be 

 drawn from it, are of the utmost importance. 



I have said, in a previous chapter, that the rapid 

 production of a good turf is the key to all our agricul- 

 tural difficulties, so far as these can be solved by the 

 wit of man ; but it must be considered that this method 

 of solution can only be fully successful if the cheapen- 

 ing of production, which we can alone attain through 

 the agency of turf, is developed all along the line. I 



