Breahim/ up Grass Land. 
505 
The labour laid out upon arable land, then, is about twelve 
times more than is expended on pasture lands, so that it is sur- 
prisingly to the advantage of the labourer as a means of profitable 
employment, but it is also of great advantage to the farmer. 
The Farmer. — To the farmer it is also of great though not 
equal advantage. Inferior grass lands will yield him adequate 
returns under good culture, but the better the land the greater 
the benefit. Tillage lands are managed with less capital, and 
are more productive. Land that will graze 4 sheep per acre will, 
under good tillage, yield 4 quarters of wheat per acre, or 8 
quarters of oats, or G quarters of barley, every fourth year in rota- 
tion ; and in the alternate years it will feed, first on rape or tur- 
nips, 10 sheep per acre, and on clover or grass seeds 9 or even 10 
sheep per acre ; but suppose this land will feed upon the average 
16 sheep per acre in four years on grass, it is evident that, under 
proper culture, it will feed the same number in two years, and in 
the other two alternate years produce the crops of grain, so that 
the farmer produces as much mutton in the four years, and has 
his two crops of corn into pocket, excepting the difference in the 
cost of labour, and wear and tear of his implements. It is the 
practice of one farmer in the writer's neighbourhood to seed down 
without a crop: his custom is to fallow. After well working 
and clearing his land till the latter end of July, and having ob^ 
tained a fine tilth, he then sows 1 sack ryegrass, 14 lbs. white 
clovei', 2 ll)s. parsley. In September it is forward enough to 
stock, when a moderate number of sheep are turned in for a few 
weeks. It is rested in winter, and m the spring he usually grazes 
from 10 to 16 sheep per acre, nearly all of which he sends fatted 
to market during the summer. This it wdl accomplish for two 
years, having a slight coat of dung the second winter. The soil 
is a sandy or silty loam of poor quality. What can inferior grass 
land do to this ? The writer of these pages broke up, in the year 
1830, a small field of 7 acres old worn out meadow, the produce 
averaging not more than three quarters of a ton of hay per acre. 
The following is the course of cropping since that time ; and the 
crops uniformly good, except the beans of 1842. In the year 
1 832 the wheat yielded 56 bushels per acre : — 
1830. 1831. 1833. 1833. 1834. 
Oats. Oats, Wheat. Beans. Wheat. 
1835. 1836. 1837. 1838. 1839. 
Peas and Beans. Wheat. Bailey. Clover. Wheat. 
1840. 1841. 1812. 1843. 1844. 
/Swedes Wheat. Beans. Wheat. Barley. 
(27 tons per acre). 
1845. 1846. 
Peas. Wheat, looking beautifully. 
