British Dairy Farming. 
125 
urge every one to examine either system for himself, and see 
what those people can do who have already had experience. In 
Italy I found that in September the dairy cattle were chiefly fed 
upon the leaves of the elm. Men who cannot obtain green food 
are thus induced to utilize what we despise, and yet they find no 
ill result. In Switzerland, Mr. Page, Director of the Anglo-Swiss 
Milk Company, feeds upon cut grass only in summer, and the 
average among his 40 Swiss cows exceeds 800 gallons of milk. 
What is done in other countries will be seen further on. Of 
one fact I am quite sure, that those who have successfully tried 
either system of cropping referred to here, will endorse the 
recommendations I have made. 
Maize. 
The cultivation of maize in England by the practical farm- 
ing community depends upon two considerations — the belief in 
the possibility of its certain growth, and the assurance that it 
can be grown at a profit. There is, fortunately, now little diffi- 
culty in showing that the uncertainty of the crop is reduced to 
a minimum, and that its profitable nature is beyond doubt. 
This minimum of uncertainty relates chiefly to the North of 
England, for observations extending over several years lead me 
to believe that south of the Trent maize germinates and grows 
almost as readily as the cereals common to this country. The 
further we go north, however, the greater the difficulty, not 
because the plant will not grow, but because the season in which 
it flourishes is narrowed so that it cannot be sown until the 
summer is too far advanced to enable it to yield a profitable 
return. Like certain other plants, maize has been recommended 
very strongly, and attempts have been made to introduce it into 
our system of agriculture at least once in every generation, but 
our forefathers had not the advantages which we possess in the 
use of seed which has been practically acclimatized. In America 
the maize plant is being gradually pushed north, hardier varieties 
have been produced by selection and cultivation, and it is to 
these that we owe a capacity for maize-growing which I do not 
believe is yet comprehended. In some districts of France, 
maize forms part of a regular rotation ; while in others it is 
grown where a rotation is practically ignored, and where the 
farmer's entire aim is to produce heavy forage crops for his 
cattle, in preference to cereals for sale. It is cultivated on the 
majority of warm soils, and is the most prominent plant in 
the Sologne, where I have seen it growing luxuriantly on lands, 
which not long before were peaty swamps or wild commons, 
covered with heather and gorse. As, however, the maize plant 
