434 
Faryiiincj of CormcalL 
2>asfjiTCS, as lliey arc generally seen, may be gained from the fol- 
lowing anecdote : — " An eminent London sur\ eyor having occasion 
to value an estate in this county, on coming to one of those fields, 
denounced the land as extremely poor and of very little value. 
The next field he examined was in a state of tillage, ' and I have 
reason,' says my informant, ' to know that he put more than 
double the value upon it than on the lay fields although there was 
no difference whatever in the character of the soils.' " 
52, There is only one rotation to which it is worth while to 
allude by way of argument, because it is one that is pursued by 
many respectable farmers, viz.: 1st. Wheat; 2nd. Barley; 3rd. 
Turnips ; 4th. Barley or oats ; and 5th. Grass seeds for three 
years. Generally speaking, the proportion of green crops is 
nearly equal to the barley crop in this case, which is one redeem- 
ing quality: besides, the grass seeds are laid down in good 
condition after the green crop, which is another redeeming quality ; 
and it is true that very good farming may be witnessed on this 
rotation. The farmers manure the land well for the wheat and 
turnip crop ; and on the whole are successful cultivators. Some 
of them, too, take a fair proportion of rape or pasture turnips 
previous to the wheat crop, which are consumed by sheep folded 
on the land. All this is very well as far as it goes, and on very 
good land it may and does succeed : and those who advocate this 
system point to the best managed farms on this rotation as ex- 
amples of good farming; but unfortunately for the example, there 
are by far a greater number of badly cultivated farms than good 
ones ; and on the generality of our light soils, one breadth of green 
crops is not sufficient to counteract the exhausting effect of three 
corn crops. 
53. Conditions as to Management. — Much of the bad methods 
of farming in Cornwall is attributable to the " conditions of 
management " commonly expressed in the leases. I give two or 
three as examples : — 
" On every breach of tillage, to take only two corn crops* (the last 
element of woody fibre, corhon, is wasted. The carbon uniting. with "the 
oxygen of the air forms carbonic acid gas, which flies off in the atmos- 
pheie from whence it was originally derived, instead of being slowly 
decomposed and given off in the soil as food lor the plants. Woody fibre 
in a state of decay is the substance called " hmims" the accumulation of 
which in a soil is incompatible with the continual burning which is so 
generally practised in Cornwall. The ashes which were originally derived 
irom the soil are useful to vegetation according to the saline substances 
which they contain, but the amount of these may be ascertained from the 
simple fact that 100 lbs. of whcatcn straw, stroil, or weeds, leaves not 
more than 7 or 8 lbs. of ashes after being burnt. 
* " A lease was drawn which came under my knowledge a short time 
since, binding the tenant not to take more than three corn crops \n i-wc- 
cession." — Part of a CorresjwiidenccJ'rom Edward ArcliCr, Esq., Trckishc. 
