The Danger of Relying on Custom. 77 



CHAPTER VI. 



FOEAGE PLANTS, 



" "lyTEVER revert to the past " seems rather a whole- 

 l\ some maxim. When I first heard it, many 

 years ago, I thonght it a very strange one, but 

 I do not do so now, as a more extended experience has 

 shown me that, by referring to the past, you are often 

 liable to fall into a trap rather than into the hands 

 of a trustworthy guide ; for there are two great 

 dangers in relying on the past action of our prede- 

 cessors — the one, as I have previously pointed out, 

 that it is difficult to find any set of present circum- 

 stances exactly on all fours with those of the past ; 

 the other, that what has been done in the past may have 

 been done, not on sound principles as to what was best 

 to be done, but for some other reason altogether, and 

 that the action taken on that reason may be partially 

 wrong. When, for instance, I began fo turn my 

 attention to farming here, I was struck with the fact 

 that the farmers usually began their niaeteen years' 

 leases by a heavy application of lime, though this is 

 easily washed out of the soil, and should be applied 

 little and often, and I was told that small applications 

 were of no use. But I found on inquiry that in 

 Durham, where eight-year leases were usual, the farmers 

 limed every eight years, while in Gloucestershire the 

 custom was to lime in small quantities every four 



