124 PERMANENT AND TEMPORARY PASTURES 



to grow wheat at a profit on land heavily burdened with rates, 

 taxes, and other charges. Were the price to rise to a figure 

 that would make wheat a profitable crop to grow, we could 

 almost supply home requirements from British soil ; but while 

 the doctrines of Free Trade prevail the farmer must turn 

 his attention to other crops besides wheat, and discontinue 

 flogging the dead horse. As an alternative, I am fully 

 persuaded that the general adoption of short-term leys will 

 prove to be a substantial gain. In itself the system of tem- 

 porary pastures is good, and a means of good, for it opens up 

 a less ruinous method of farming with a much smaller capital 

 than is sufficient for the conduct of a purely arable farm. 

 It has been said with truth that the immediate return from 

 grass is less than from arable land ; and while farmers were 

 paying high rents they could not afford to dispense with a crop 

 of wheat, which could readily be turned into money. This 

 argument takes no account of the continued outlay a wheat 

 crop involves, which more than absorbs the price realised for 

 the corn. 



The wide assumption that there is no alternative between 

 the old four-course system and the laying down of land to 

 permanent pasture will not bear a moment's examination. 

 The result of this fallacy is fraught with mischief, and entails 

 an enormous loss on the farmers of this country every year. 

 The alternate system offers a remedy of proved value, the 

 adoption of which will tend very materially to turn a deficit 

 into a favourable balance. Cocksfoot, Timothy, Italian Rye 

 Grass, and other strong-growing grasses, not only produce 

 heavy crops of nutritious hay, but they smother weeds and 

 keep the land clean ; that is, supposing it to have been in a 

 reasonably clean condition when sown. The alternate system 

 will justify neither slovenly preparation nor foul seeding. 

 Those who sow rubbish will assuredly reap as they sow. The 

 seeds sold for leys sometimes consist largely of Goose Grass 

 and Yorkshire Fog, with a liberal sprinkling of sorrel and 



