472 Report on Laying down Land to. Permanent Pasture. 
and young barren cows for fattening, and chiefly fill up my stock in the- 
autumn with such as are not specially adapted for the butcher. Now that 
all my land is in grass, and since I have so much improved its fertility, 
chiefly with bones, the farm will carry nearly double the quantity of stock it 
did 51 years ago ; consequently the production is greatly increased, and the 
remuneration very much larger. 
Joseph Aston. 
24. EusHTON, Taeporley, Cheshire. 
I rent my farm of 145 acres on a yearly agreement, but without any com- 
pensation clauses. The soil varies, but is chiefly a good brown loam oh a 
marly subsoil, with part on rock : about 20 acres are gravelly, and this is all 
that I now have in tillage. The rest of the farm is in gi-ass, and, were it all 
heavy land, I should certainly have none under the plough. A few years ago 
I had a larger quantity of arable land, but the dearness and scarcity of labour 
caused me to laj' it down. My practice has been to get the land as clean as 
possible during a rotation of oats, green croji, wheat, and then oats or barley, 
and to sow the seeds in April with the latter crop, which is allowed to ripen. 
I always sow the light and heavy seeds separately. As soon as the corn-crop 
is t.aken off, I dress the young seeds with fannyard-manure or bones — the 
former preferred. The first crop of grass I mow, and then pasture withi 
cattle or sheep ; and in the following spring, apply a few bones. I now rear 
and feed a good deal more stock than I did formerly, and am certain that 
my present method of farming pays mc better than when I ploughed more of 
the land. 
Light soils lying long in grass would become foul if not heavily stocked 
and manured : if, in spite of this, the land becomes foul, the only way to clean 
it is to put it through a course of tillage. 
Marling and boning, and consuming turnips on old pastures, have each 
their beneficial effect, and they will pay well for the outlay. 
Thomas Finchett. 
25. EiDLEY Hall, Tabpoeley, Cheshire. 
I rent this farm of 445 acres on a 21 years' lease, dating from 1857. I am 
not protected by any tenant-right clauses ; but I think it important that every 
lease should contain a clause giving the tenant compensation for improvements- 
made within a certain number of years before the termination of such lease; 
for, where this is neglected, it cannot be expected that any prudent farmer' 
will continue to lay out much of his own capital as the expiration of his occu- 
pation draws near. * 
Some of my land is of a stiffish surface, resting on a strong clay subsoil; 
portions consist of a sandy loam, upon gravel ; while the remainder is a 
lilack peat, lying at a low level, having evidently at some period been under 
water. 
I cannot give the exact yearly rainfall, but I should say our climate is a 
medium one as regards moisture. 
Previous to 186G I had put down in grass about 60 acres ; but cattle-plague 
coming amongst us at that time swept away the stock, and caused me to break 
up about 100 acres, which I have since reduced to 50 acres. The main cause 
of my wishing to have less i)loughiiig was not the high wages of the labourei>^ 
proper (for in this immediate neighbourhood we do not suffer so much in thai 
