164 
Management of Grass Land. 
returns ; and the clovers and rotation-grasses, beinof preparatory 
to the growtli of corn, are, for the most part, as well managed as 
the skill and means of the occupiers j^rmit. I propose, there- 
fore, to limit my suggestions for improvement to the twenty-two 
millions of permanent pasture above mentioned. The great bulk 
of this large area is in England and Ireland, as in Scotland grass 
is generally grown as a rotation crop; so that in 1870 England, 
Ireland, and Wales, contained 21,098,828* out of the 22,085,2,95 
acres of permanent pasture in the United Kingdom. 
Within the last three years I have endeavoured to ascertain by 
personal observation the general state of the grass land of the. 
two former countries. In 1869 I spent a few months in visiting 
every county in Ireland, and in 1870 and 1871 I travelled many 
hundred miles to make myself acquainted with some of the 
most famous grazing "districts in England. The following are 
three of the geneial conclusions at which I arrived : 
1st. That although very excellent management is to be met 
with in parts of our best grazing districts in Leicestershire, 
Northamptonshire, Gloucestershire, Somersetshire, and several 
other counties, this must be considered quite exceptional, and the 
treatment of the bulk of the grass land of the country is very 
unsatisfactory. 
2nd. That our grass lands, if properly managed, would be 
easily able to meet the demand made upon them for an increased 
production of meat, even if the supply required were greatly in 
excess of the present rate of consumption. 
3rd. That money judiciously laid out in improving grass land 
makes a better return than money laid out on arable land. 
With reference to the first assertion, though 9s. per stone for 
beef and mutton is causing considerable stir amongst grass-land 
larmers, the efforts to improve are very desultory, and entirely 
witliout method or system. If corn or roots are to be grown, 
pains are taken to give a dressing of the most suitable tillage, 
and to remove the interloping weeds which rob and threaten to 
smother the crop ; and if any tenant tries to grow successive 
crops without manure, or systematically allows his fields to be 
red with poppies or yellow with charlock, the neighbours shake 
their heads, and hint that he is getting near the end of his 
tetlier. l^ut if he totally neglects his pastures, never giving 
himself the trouble to consider whether bad grass might not 
l)e improved, or whether the docks and thistles might not be 
destroyed at very small cost, no surprise is excited, because, 
unfortunately, improved management is the exception and not 
tlie rule. It is, however, not my object to dwell on the defi- 
» Agi'icultural Returns, 1870. 
