Increased Fertility of Soil. 129 



with its equipment in the shape of buildings, fences and 

 drains, is the fixed capital of the landlord. It has been 

 my object in farming to attain such a system, as I 

 have successfully done on my Clifton-On-Bownaont 

 farm, which now yields rent, interest on capital, 

 and shows a steady increase in the fertility of the 

 soil. It is to the last that the landlord should attach the 

 greatest importance, for, under my system, while the 

 fertility increases the expenditure declines, as the land 

 is ultimately more easily worked, and the seed mixtures 

 may be cheapened, as less seed is required in the case of 

 soil in fine condition. Weeds may be almost entirely 

 prevented, and the crops will not only improve but, what 

 is of great importance, be more able to resist the effects 

 of unfavourable seasons, and can be grown successfully 

 at much higher elevations, as is proved by this year's 

 (1907) barley at Clifton-on-Bowmont, which is of very 

 superior quality although grown in an unfavourable 

 season and at an elevation of 750 feet.* 



There is also another important consideration, and that 

 is that the landlord must be on his guard against legis- 

 lation inimical to his interests, and remember that the 

 land he is cultivating may be acquired forcibly for small 

 holdings, and that the more he spends on enriching his 

 land through the agency of the present expensive 

 system of farming, the greater will be his fisk of loss in 

 the event of the land being taken from him. And I may 

 remark in passing that the same cautions apply to 



* It is important to note that every time our soil is ploughed up at 

 Clifton-on-Bowmont the land becomes darker from the increase of humtis, 

 and this means that the soil becomes warmer, and this again means that 

 it becomes more fertile. In Fletcher's "SoUs" the reader will find 

 interesting facts in connection with the subject,, and it is there stated 

 "that a dark coloured soil is about eight degrees warmer near the surface 

 than a light coloured soil. If the reader will compare what Mr. Fletcher 

 has written in " Soils " on humus with my long practical experience at 

 Clifton-on-Bowmont he will see that the conclusions I have arrived at 

 exactly tally with those of the American Agricultural writers. 



