50 
Agricultural Progress and 
the tenant did not think a very difficult task, when he was told 
that the usual yield from 20 acres of meadow was about 15 tons 
of hay. He saw that the land required liberal treatment for some 
years ; and he therefore dressed it the first season with 2 cwt. 
of guano and 1 cwt. of nitrate of soda per acre, following' it up 
the next year by a heavy dressing of well-made manure. He 
also took care that the land should be cleared by the 1st of 
March, as he had often seen a crop of hay ruined from the meadow 
being eaten bare in April. If drought sets in in May, land so 
treated becomes parched for want of its natural covering, and the 
grass receives so severe a check that it recovers very slowly ; 
and if the season continues dry, the ultimate result is half a crop 
of hay, stacked some weeks later than usual, and no after-grass. 
After two years of the treatment above mentioned, the clovers 
and finer grasses sprang up so as completely to change the cha- 
racter of the herbage in these meadows. They also produced 
half a ton more hay per acre. 
The last point to be noticed in the management of this farm 
is the treatment of the manure. In consideration of the spirited 
exertions of the new tenant, his landlord consented to roof over 
a small fold-yard as an experiment ; and the manure thus made 
was tested against an equal quantity made in the ordinary way. 
The result was so decidedly in favour of the former, that after 
some years' experience the tenant declared that he would rather 
pay for covering the yard himself than be deprived of the benefit 
derived from it. The cost of the roof was about 5s. per superficial 
yard of the space covered ; and the increased value of the manure 
was found to be from 25 to 30 per cent. The advantage, however, 
did not end there, as there was considerable saving of expense 
by not carting the manure into heaps, or turning it once or twice 
in the heap, as had been the previous custom. It remained in 
the yard undisturbed until wanted, and was then in first-rate 
order for carting on to the land, whether applied to .the grass or 
for a fallow crop. 
The time of publication has arrived, and the writer greatly 
regrets that he is unable to complete his programme. There are 
subjects of great interest, intimately connected with agricultural 
progress, which have been wholly untouched. Amongst others 
may be named — the latest improvements in the management of 
light land, especially by claying or marling — -farm-buildings — 
labourers' cottages, and the connection of railways with agricul- 
tural development. To all these subjects he has devoted a good 
deal of attention, and on each of them he was desirous of writing 
a few pages in this Journal. The great difficulty, however, of 
collecting any authentic statistics relating to agriculture, has 
caused months to be spent where apparently weeks should have 
