THE EXTENSION OF PASTUEES. 5 



it must be patent that in the absence of such labour-saving 

 machinery English husbandry could not be carried on by the 

 present deteriorated body of farm labourers. And finality in 

 labour-saving is no more attained in husbandry than it is in 

 manufacturing industries. As yet the electrical engineer has 

 rendered the farmer no assistance, but I am sanguine that in the 

 near future discoveries in this direction will be made which will 

 eclipse all that has previously been achieved in the interests of 

 agriculture. 



The laying down of land to grass appears to me to be quite 

 as much a question for landowners as for tenants. The former 

 have a direct interest in promoting the movement, as a means of 

 avoiding the deterioration of their land, and of attracting tenants 

 to their farms. ^ 



I freely admit that there are large tracts of land in this 

 country which are unsuited for the economic formation of perma- 

 nent pastures, because the finer grasses die out, and the soil 

 gradually becomes filled with moss, twitch, and worthless indi- 

 genous grasses. Much of the prejudice existing against the making 

 of pastures has been caused by fruitless attempts to coerce Nature. 

 But, granting that the formation of permanent pastures cannot 

 be universally advocated, there is no farm land with which I am 

 acquainted that will not profitably respond to the alternate 

 system alluded to in the chapter on 'Temporary Pastures.' 

 The advantages of that system, however, are by no means re- 

 stricted to soil which is unsuitable for permanent pastures. 

 The practice of the Lancashire and Scotch farmers has abun- 

 dantly proved that no other method of farming pays so well as 

 laying down land in artificial grasses for periods varying from 

 two to four years, instead of simply sowing clover and breaking 

 it 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, and I look forward to the wide 



'■ Farms which have a fair proportion of grass have heen in constant demand, vs'hile it 

 has in numerous instances heen found impossible to ohtain tenants for farms wholly arable. 



