Continuous Com Growincj. 
61 
of weeds. Three cwt. of dissolved bones and f cwt. of nitrate of 
soda have been used tliis year as manure, and the field made an 
average of 13/. ; in 1873 it reached nearly 15/. The prospects 
for 1875 are equally good ; steam-ploughing and dragging were 
early finished — a matter of paramount importance in the profit- 
able management of this heavy land : two bushels of Browick 
red, the filth wheat-crop in succession, were steam-drilled in 
October, with about 3 cwt. of dissolved bones, and by the first 
week in January the plant looked very forward, many of the root- 
lets already down several inches, and tillering as much as many 
crops will have done in April. On Newlands were 34 acres of 
Rivett wheat, the fourth corn-crop in succession ; not so strong^ 
or thick as some other pieces, but averaging 10/. per acre. 
During the summer of 1874, 12 acres adjoining were thoroughly 
fallowed. On these pieces, in October, G pecks of Browick red 
were drilled with the usual dose of phosphates, and three months 
later the wheat looked forward and promising, especially on the 
summer-fallowed portion. 
Mr. Middleditch, although not very partial to grass-farming, 
still reserves about 100 acres of old turf, kept, he declares, more 
for amenity than profit, and because his friends tell him that, if 
his estate were for sale, purchasers would deplore the want of 
permanent grass, hedgerows, and trees. The grass, for years, 
has evidently been neglected and very wet. In the trial holes 
the water stood before the draining, even in a dry time, within 
a foot of the surface. The whole of the ploughed land having 
been dried, the grass was drained during the winter of 1873-74. 
JNIr. Middleditch is not troubled with the fear, still somewhat 
common, that his grass-land may be overdrained. Down into 
4-ft. drains only surplus water flows, and in a dry season the 
4-ft. stratum must be saturated before water runs to waste. 
Drained so recently, the grass has not yet fully profited by the 
operation ; the herbage is still rough and of improvable quality. 
But even in its present condition, it yields a fair return. Let 
by auction in May, for six months, it has averaged annually 
during the four yearly auction sales a little over 4/. per acre. 
But these are insignificant results compared with what the old 
turf does when ploughed up. Some sour grass, worth little 
more than 20s. per acre, ploughed up four years ago by Mr. 
Middleditch, has since produced, at an annual cost of about 5/. 
per acre, three consecutive wheat-crops making the following- 
profitable acreable returns, and presenting besides an excellent 
prospect for 1875 : — 
£ a. d. 
1872 13 10 0 
1873 14 0 0 
1874 17 0 0 
