2 PERMANENT AND TEMPORARY PASTURES 



and the engineer. It has become necessary to take advantage 

 of every invention and scientific discovery which reduces 

 manual labour. Enormous strides have already been made in 

 this direction. Threshing-machines, steam-ploughs, self-binders, 

 spraying-machines, cream-separators, and facilities for transit 

 have revolutionised farming conditions. Without the aid of 

 machinery it must be patent that British husbandry could not 

 be can-ied on by the present body of farm labourers. Finality 

 in labour-saving has no more been attained in husbandry than 

 it has in manufacturing industries. 



Laying down land to grass has had a fuU share in solving 

 the labour question, and has been largely instrumental in 

 improving the economic position of agriculture. It has also 

 been the means of preventing deterioration of land and of 

 attracting tenants to farms. Yet it must be admitted that the 

 extension of permanent pastures cannot be a national advantage, 

 because grass land produces less food than does arable. And 

 many large tracts of land are entirely unsuited for the formation 

 of meadows or pastures ; the finer grasses speedily disappear, 

 while the soil is gradually filled with moss, weeds, twitch, and 

 worthless indigenous grasses. But there is scarcely any farm 

 land that wiU not profitably respond to the alternate system 

 referred to in the chapter on ' Temporary Pastures,' and the 

 advantages of this system are by no means restricted to soils 

 which are unsuited for Permanent Pastures. The practice of 

 the Lancashire and Scotch farmers has abundantly proved that 

 no other method of farming pays so weU as laying down the 

 best land in artificial grasses for periods varying from two to 

 four years, instead of simply sowing clover and breaking up 

 after the first season. Temporary pastures are now recom- 

 mended for general adoption by some of the most enlightened 

 and able agriculturists of the country. A wide extension of 

 this system is not merely a great means of lessening the labour 

 bUl, but it also ensures the storage in the soil of a large reserve 

 of grain-producing energy ready for any national emergency. 



