l82 Suggested Changes of Inarming System. 



a deeply-rooted turf, which most fully supplies that humus which is 

 the most valuable part of farmyard manure. This may now be 

 carted direct from the steading, and scattered on the nearest grass 

 field. By the careful investigation of the late Dr. Voelcker, it has 

 been proved that this would involve no loss of manure {much of 

 which is liable to loss on the existing system) though if left in small 

 heaps on the land there would be a loss. 



The sixth weak point in the present farming system consists of 

 growing the most innutritious grass. I this year sent a sample of 

 the Bank field hay to a friend, who obtained a practical opinion for 

 me from a farmer who grows hay for the Liverpool market, and the 

 sample, I may add, was by no means a favourable one, as all the best 

 part of the hay had been used. The farmer writes as follows : — " I 

 only regret I have not a thousand tons of such fodder, as I should 

 then fear neither rent day nor pay day, nor, for the matter of that, 

 scarcely any other days ; such hay as I have before me would sell 

 like wildfire in Liverpool, even in the face of severe home and foreign 

 competition." It is interesting to observe how the opinion of the 

 practical hay grower coincides with the analyses in Sinclair's work. 

 The nutritive value of perennial ryegrass stands at 70, that of 

 cocksfoot 80, tall oat grass 120, tall fescue 94, rough-stalked meadow 

 grass 80, burnet 100, yarrow 98 — all of these being grown in the Bank 

 field mixture. Chicory stands at 60, or nearly the same nutritive 

 value as white clover. Sinclair gives no analysis of the kidney vetch. 

 According to Dr. Stebler, in his " The Best Forage Plants," the 

 proportion of nutritive matter contained in kidney vetch is greater 

 than in red clover hay of medium quality. After enumerating 

 thirteen grasses as being those which contain the most nutritive 

 matter, Sinclair observes that " perennial ryegrass ranks with those 

 that contain the least." It is not uninteresting to note that the 

 opinions of the practical hay farmer, the analyst, and the horses all 

 agree — the last so decidedly that they prefer the Bank field hay to 

 oats — i.e., they will leave the latter to eat the former. 



The seventh weak point of the present farming system is that, in 

 consequence of the absence of vegetable matter in the soil, the waste 

 on all slopes is serious, and the downward waste of manurial matters 

 is also very considerable. When the land is well stored with decaying 

 turf the waste is entirely averted, and the downward percolation of 

 the water is attended with no loss, or only a trifling one, of nitrogen, 

 as it is retained by the humus. 



The eighth weak point in the present farming system is the 

 exhaustion it entails on the soil, and of this I have heard frequent 

 mention for many years past, besides having a large personal experi- 

 ence in the matter. Perhaps the most decisive evidence on the point 

 is contained in the resolutions passed at the first great meeting of 

 400 Aberdeenshire farmers at the beginning of the bad times, when 

 they attributed their difficulties to dear labour, bad seasons, and the 

 exhaustion of the soil. The last statement proves what must now 

 be evident to everyone, and that is that the present farming is a, 



