Light-Land Farming. 
105 
were the rotation the same on both soils, i. e. either all the fives 
or all the sixes, the green crops could be so arran2:ed as to have 
one portion near the steading and another more distant from it 
every yeai", and thus render the labour of carting roots and 
manure more uniform throughout the whole rotation. The 
situation of tlie steading, and the relative position of the fields 
to one another and to the steading, must be taken into account ; 
and wherever these are favourable to the adoption of a double 
rotation of fives and sixes, it should be preferred, because each 
of these is admirably fitted to the soil for which it is recom- 
mended. 
When the soil of a farm is all of a medium and inferior 
quality, the five-course rotation is very commonly adopted, not 
only on whinstone soils, but also on all others of a similar 
quality and texture, whether situated on the granitic, gneiss, 
grey wacke, or sandstone formations. This is especially the case 
in all inland districts where there are no conveniences for trans- 
porting or sending potatoes to a good market. So general- 
indeed is the five-course rotation in many of the border counties, 
and the cultivation of turnips as the only green crop, that even 
on very large farms there are seldom any more potatoes grown 
than what is required for the use of the farmer's family and 
servants. The five-course, as pursued in these districts, con- 
sists of, 1st, turnips ; 2nd, barley and Avheat ; 3rd, grass partl}^ 
mown once ; 4th, grass all pastured ; and 5th, oats. From this 
arrangement it will be seen that two-fifths of the land are in corn, 
two-fifths in grass, and one-fifth in turnips, and consequently 
that much of the rent-paying revenue of the farm must be raised 
from the rearing or fattening of sheep and cattle. The rotation 
is however a very economical one, because it requires little horse 
and hand labour, in consequence of the small proportion of green 
crop, and this all of one kind, which is worked at a season of 
the year, from March to June, when a great deal of work can l>e 
expeditiously performed, and also because one-fifth only of the 
land is dunged annually. There are thus three years of restorative 
treatment, and only two of an exhausting nature. 
The management of the crops on a farm, cultivated according to 
the foregoing rotation, is very systematic and easy, and the results 
are exceedingly uniform, unless so far as they are affected by the 
nature of the seasons. The force required for ploughing, har- 
rowing, carting, &c., does not exceed one man and two horses 
to every 90 acres where the land is moderately level, or 
where it is steep to every 70 acres. Besides a man and pair of 
horses to every 80 acres on an average, there will be required on 
a large farm a steward, a shepherd with a boy to assist him, 
and one woman or boy to every 8 or 10 acres of turnips, paid 
