igi i .] The Elliot System of Farming. 



advocates a change in the ordinary rotation of the locality, 

 which is a five-year shift (viz., turnips, oats, seeds, seeds, 

 oats), and claims that better results are obtained by leaving 

 the seeds down for four or five years, to be followed by two 

 successive crops of turnips and oats; that is to say, while 

 under the local system one-fifth of the area is under roots 

 and two-fifths under cereals, Mr. Elliot's system gives one 

 quarter under roots and one quarter under cereals. He claims 

 that under his system the only manure required is a moderate 

 dressing of artificials with the roots, and that the local system 

 leads to an excessive handling of farmyard manure and an 

 impoverishment of the soil as well. 



On the farm at Clifton the visitor can see Mr. Elliot's 

 mixture at all stages of growth, and can compare it with the 

 pastures obtained by the ordinary methods practised in the 

 neighbourhood. There can be no doubt that in the earlier 

 years Mr. Elliot's mixtures on certain soils produce a better 

 growth of herbage than the ordinary commercial mixtures, 

 but the former cost more, and further investigation is neces- 

 sary to determine whether the results justify the additional 

 expense. 



An inspection of the farm was recently made by Dr. 

 ]. Augustus Voelcker, who has been good enough to furnish 

 the Board with the following observations : — 



"We went over a number of the fields, inspecting in 

 particular those that were down in grass. The chief interest 

 in these lies in the fact that here one can see fields laid down 

 in grass according to Mr. Elliot's system, and which have 

 been in grass for one, two, three and more years, and some 

 even longer. Further, there were opportunities of seeing the 

 difference between the portion of a field that had been hayed 

 and the portion that was fed by sheep and lambs. 



"Despite the dry season the first year's grass w^as very 

 vigorous and green. Where a hay crop had been taken, the 

 hay was largely composed of clover, together with kidney 

 vetch and chicory, the cocksfoot not being prominent. In the 

 second year's growth, after haying the first year, the cocks- 

 foot grows strongly and forms a considerable bulk of the 

 pasture. 



"In different fields we w T ere able to see the result of using 



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