4 
Land Valuing. 
tliem, take up too mucli room. Such land looks g^reen much 
later in the year than inferior pasture, and when it at length loses 
its bright colour, it acquires a slightly whitish tinge, but never a 
brown or reddish hue. 
Clover is generally a good sign, and so are buttercups ; but 
much moss indicates poverty, and often too frequent mowing, 
although most grass fields contain some moss. 
The strong coarse grasses that indicate wet land are well 
known ; but I may remark that although rushes thrive on wet 
soils, they survive draining, and are much too universal on cold 
grass land to form a sure indication : they should not, therefore, 
be relied on as Carnation Grass, Tufted-hair Grass, the Woad- 
plant, or Blue-buttons may be. 
The appearance of the trees and hedges should also be noted. 
Neither elms nor quick-hedges will ever be seen growing strong 
and well on very bad land. Oaks indicate a strong soil or sub- 
soil, generally clay, and the appearance of the trees will often 
indicate the quality. 
But even in the case of grass land, it is also desirable to examine 
the soil and subsoil. In how many cases do we find that these 
are of a much better quality than we anticipated from the nature 
of the herbage above them — the result of years of bad manage- 
ment, scarcely to be cured without breaking up ! 
In the case of arable land, an examination of the soil and sub- 
soil is the only reliable test ; and I do not hesitate to say that if a 
valuer allows himself to be influenced in any degree by the appear- 
ance of the crops, he runs the greatest risk of being misled. 
This being the case, there need be no difficulty in "reducing 
lands under different systems of culture to the same standard of 
■calculation." That a long-continued system of deep ploughing 
and superior culture will eventually alter the apparent quality of 
the soil, I do not deny ; for it ought to do so, seeing that it will 
also permanently alter its real quality. But if the soil be carefully 
examined, the valuer will not be at all misled by such differences 
as that between one field in clover ley, trodden down hard, and 
an adjoining one ploughed up rough. The season most favourable 
for inspection is that in which the land can be best seen, when it 
is least encumbered by crops, and not locked up by frost or snow. 
I should say that any time from the 1st of September to the 
middle of May is favourable for land-valuing, excluding only 
periods of frost and snow and excessive rain ; and on this account 
probably the months of September, October, March, and April, 
may ho. the best of all. During the summer months the difliculty 
and labour of arriving at a correct estimate are increased, altliough 
from the idea that land looks better with the crops upon it, and 
the circumstance that that is the usual season for the sale of 
