390 Glimpses of Farming in the Channel Islands. 
same parish ; and Mr. Le Pelly, of St. Andrew's ; while Mr. De 
Mouilpied, of St. Peter Port, afforded me a good deal of in- 
formation as to the best farms to visit. The old course of 
cropping, still pursued by a few farmers who disdain modern 
innovations, is one of grass or " seeds," wheat, parsnips, potatoes, 
roots — prolonged sometimes by growing roots or some other 
feeding crop two or three years before returning to gi'ass or seeds, 
in which the land rests two or three years. The more usual 
course now is one of grass or seeds, parsnips, potatoes, and 
broccoli or turnips (planted as soon as the potatoes are oif), and 
potatoes again, with or without broccoli to come after them in 
the same year. Broccoli is now one of the most profitable of the 
crops grown in Guernsey, and it will be noticed that it takes 
an important position in the new course of cropping, while 
wheat is left out. 
On a well-cultivated farm in St. Andrew's parish, belonging 
to Mr. Le Pelly, who keeps twelve splendid milking cows — 
Guernseys, of course — and sells the milk in St. Peter Port, the 
rotation pursued is (1) wheat, (2) parsnips, (3) vetches and 
turnips, (4) oats, with which clover, lucerne, and ryegrass are 
sown, to stand for six or seven years. Mr. Le Pelly rears and 
fattens all his calves. I may mention, in passing, that he 
told me he never dried off his cows, and other Guernsey farmers 
said the same, giving as a reason that when the animals are 
feeding on an abundance of succulent food, there would be danger 
of milk fever if they were dried ; but some cows cease of their 
own accord to yield an appreciable quantity of milk for a few 
weeks before calving, and they are dried off. Mr. Le Patourel, 
however, informed me that it was the general custom to dry off 
the cows for a few weeks. 
The wholesale price of milk in Guernsey is Is. a gallon (13^ 
cubic inches smaller than the English Imperial gallon) all the 
year round. 
Mr. Le Pelly has eighty-five vergees, or thirty-four acres, of 
land, which constitute one of the largest farms in Guernsey. He 
stated that there was only one farm of 100 vergees (40 acres) or 
more in the island, probably referring to Mr. Le Patourel's farm, 
which is about 50 acres in extent. It will be seen from his 
rotation that he grows a good deal of " seeds," and he needs a 
considerable quantity of fodder for his cows and bullocks ; but 
he also makes hay, and as he sold some this year at 7^. a ton, its 
production is not unprofitable. He gi'ows potatoes for export 
on about 4 vergees of land, and turnips after them, year after 
year — that is, on the same piece of land. Broccoli he also 
grows for export, and his last crop was sold as it stood at 36^. 
