On Breaking up Grass Lands. 
173 
number of pigs. His corn-crops average the same as those of B.* He 
sells parsnips, carrots, and potatoes, but not straw or hay, except occa- 
sionally ; when he is short of manure for his wheat crop, he disposes of 
a little straw for the purpose of enabling him to purchase manure. 
He makes it a point to manure for wheat; if he his not sufficient for 
that purpose he must purchase. He also makes it a rule to manure in 
the spring with the potato crop, and again in the autumn with the 
wheat ; so that the part which happens to be planted with potatoes is 
manured twice every year. His system of half wheat every year would 
not answer without doing so. This man, without ever having heard of 
Whitfield Farm, would appear to be copying from the practice adoj)ted 
there, but with disadvantages that are not there experienced. The soil 
he has to work upon is much inferior to that of Whitfield Farm ; its 
aspect is not so favourable, and it is not drained ; and besides, he pos- 
sesses none of that power which an acquaintance with improved imple- 
ments and machinery bestows, nor the advantages which a familiar 
acquaintance with science confers. 
On very stiff cold clay pastures occupied for dairy purposes, 
less is returned every year to the soil by the ordinary manure of 
a dairy farm than has been taken from it, and a corresponding 
diminution of produce ensues. Not one dairy-farmer in ten has 
been in the habit of purchasing manure to supply the deficiency 
occasioned by selling cheese and beef. Many are in the habit of 
mixing composts from ditch-scourings, road-scrapings, and the 
mud thrown out of ponds, and of spreading it on the land, and 
thus have prevented the rapid deterioration which otherwise would 
have followed. Such slight dressings being generally not suffi- 
cient, those lands have been, and are now being, imperceptibly 
impoverished, and must finally cease to produce cheese in the 
quantity that will pay the occupier. To counteract this insidious 
process, the farmer, I apprehend, only requires to he made aware 
of the fact, and perfectly convinced of its reality. The most evi-' 
dent remedy is to manure with a compost of bones, soil, earth, &c. ; 
but such process will cause an outlay of cash, the return of which 
might be deemed doubtful. Should this, however, not be done, 
the country will evidently suffer loss, and a deficiency will slowly 
and surely arise. It must be evident that dairy-farms which have 
not had occasional manurings, must be depreciating in fertility, 
although it may be slowly and insensibly, and those that have not 
been manured for many years are now bordering on a state of 
exhaustion for the purposes of dairy husbandry. Such lands 
require to be renovated ; and that old prejudice of " the poorest 
land makes the best cheese," must be eradicated and banished 
from the land ; yes, and a good deal more must be done, if dairy- 
* B.'s Produce. 
Wheat . . 32 bushels per acre. 
Barley . . 36 „ 
Oats 40 to 48 
Potatoes . 300 
