June 5, 1884. J 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
457 
COVENT GARDEN 
BUSINESS again dull with the holiday. 
s. 
d. 
S. 
d. 
Apples .. .. 
i 
6 
to 5 
0 
Chestnuts .. 
.. bushel 
0 
0 
0 
0 
Figs .. .. 
4 
0 
6 
0 
Filberts .. .. 
.. .. ft. 
0 
0 
0 
0 
Cobs 
1 
S 
1 
6 
Grapes .. .. 
.. .. ft. 
2 
0 
5 
0 
Lemon .. .. 
.. case 
15 
0 
21 
0 
Artichokes .. . 
. dozen 
s, d, s. 
2 0 to 4 
d. 
0 
Beans, Kidney 
ft. 
1 
0 
0 
0 
Beet, Red 
. dozen 
1 
0 
2 
0 
Broccoli'. 
. bundle 
0 
9 
1 
0 
Brussels Sprouts . 
. £ sieve 
0 
0 
0 
0 
Cabbage . 
. dozen 
0 
6 
1 
0 
Capsicums 
. 100 
1 
6 
2 
0 
Carrots. 
. bunch 
0 
S 
0 
4 
Cauliflowers .. . 
. dozen 
2 
0 
3 
0 
Celery . 
. bundle 
1 
6 
2 
0 
Coleworts doz. 
bunches 
2 
0 
4 
0 
Cucumbers 
. each 
0 
3 
0 
6 
Endive . 
. dozen 
,1 
0 
2 
0 
Herbs . 
0 
2 
0 
0 
Leeks . 
0 
3 
0 
4 
Lettuce .. .." . 
1 
0 
1 
6 
MARKET. —June 4th. 
s. d. s. d. 
Oranges.. . 100 6 0 to 10 0 
Peaches.perdoz. 6 0 12 0 
Pears, kitchen .. dozen 10 16 
,, dessert .. dozen 10 6 0 
Pine Apples English., lb. 2 0 3 0 
Strawberries.ft. 2 0 6 0 
St. Michael Pines ..each 2 0 6 0 
s. d. s. d. 
Mushrooms .. ..punnet 0 9 to 1 6 
Mustard and Cress punnet 0 2 0 0 
Onions .bushel 2 6 3 0 
Parsley .. dozen bunches 2 0 SO 
Parsnips.dozen 10 2 0 
Potatoes. cwt. 4 0 5 0 
,, Kidney .. cwt. 4 0 5 0 
„ New.ft. 0 2 0 4 
Rhubarb.bundle 0 4 0 0 
Salsafy .. .. .. bundle 10 0 6 
Scorzonera .. .. bundle 16 0 6 
Shallots .. .ft. 0 3 0 6 
Spinach.bushel 2 6 3 6 
Tomatoes .... ..ft. 10 0 0 
Turnips.bunch 0 3 0 0 
„ New.. .. bunch 10 0 0 
ARABLE AND PASTURE FARMING. 
( Continued from, page 436.) 
It is a natural question to ask, Can the question of comparison 
as between arable and grass land farming be answered in a way 
that shall; be- easily understood by the use of figures? We 
reply, No; it is impossible. All the attempts which have been 
made in this direction have proved failures so far as illustrations 
of profit and loss are considered. If we were to attempt to 
estimate what quantity o,f Joeef and mutton can be made from 
an acre of arable, or how much from an acre of grass, and also 
at what cost, it would not forward the matter at all in the eyes 
of a practical farmer, nor would any estimate (for it could be 
nothing more) solve the difficult problem, in consequence of sur¬ 
rounding circumstances, which we have never seen precisely 
analogous on two different farms, although they may be ad¬ 
joining, and situated in the same district as to climate and soil. 
The disturbing elements in such a case are so numerous that it 
is difficult to enumerate, much less to estimate them ; but when 
we come to compare lands occupied either as arable or pasture 
with the varying temperature of the soils, the rainfall, the geo¬ 
logical formation, and the surrounding influences too numerous 
to mention when situated in different districts, it is totally im¬ 
possible to solve the problem. 
We must therefore for our comparison take farms to illus¬ 
trate our subject situated on the same estate and in the hands 
of an agent or home farmer for management. This will simplify 
the matter very much in consequence of there being no lease with 
disturbing conditions quite unsuited to the soil and situation, 
which often ties the hands of the renting farmer, preventing him 
from making any alteration in the system of cultivation of the 
arable or the management of a pasture farm. We may probably 
be able to introduce a variety of methods which different men 
have found most profitable, and at the same time to allude to 
certain systems well known, and also to introduce those ad¬ 
mitted variations in farming practice which are not only inter¬ 
esting on account of their novelty, but at the same time suffi¬ 
ciently economical to entitle them to a position as profitable 
farming. 
One man recommends as an improvement a new departure in 
the increased acreage of his cereal products, whereas another 
falls back upon old-established customs which may frequently 
be called old prejudices, by keeping stock of certain kinds, 
whether of horned stock or sheep, not only ill adapted for the 
land under his occupation, without ever making any calculation 
as to the profit or loss on the transaction or system with which 
it is connected. By so doing he positively destroys all his 
prospect of profit by diminishing the growth of his cereal and 
pulse crops, which being the rent-paying crops, by continuing to 
maintain and often to increase his live stock, upon which money 
is frequently lost, without adopting experiments on a small scale 
in order to find out how those recommended may be suitable 
and economical as applied to his own occupation. We do not 
ask any man to blindly accept all that is offered to his notice in 
farming practices without trying them in his own way on his own 
occupation. 
Before entering upon the comparison of farms of the like 
character, but managed under different systems, as of grass or 
arable land, we will quote from Mr. Bowen Jones’s summary, 
to which we have previously referred. He writes :—“My con¬ 
clusions are that it is desirable for English farmers to turn their 
attention more to the production of meat. That to do this 
successfully they must be insured protection from the inroads 
of foreign diseases which are fatal to this branch of industiy. 
That meat cannot be brought into the market without fostering 
the breeding of all descriptions of stock in this country. That 
the condition of soil and climate in some parts of the kingdom 
will not admit of the whole of the animals bred on the land being 
there fed. That breeding and feeding on the general run of 
farms throughout the country should be extended. That on 
light lands more meat can be raised under an arable than 
under a grass system of culture; and an extension of sheep¬ 
breeding and feeding on such soils will not only increase the 
yield of meat but the profits of the cultivator. That on strong 
clays on the average of years less meat can be raised under a 
system wholly arable than one wholly grass if high feeding is 
resorted to. That on good medium soils a mixed system of part 
arable and part grass is the best to raise the largest quantity of 
meat through breeding and feeding on the same holding. That 
as you approach the lighter soils the quantity of arable in pro¬ 
portion to grass may be extended for the same purpose and with 
the same result, and, on the contrary, as you draw nearer the 
clay from medium soils the amount of grass may be judiciously 
increased.” This is certainly a very fair statement of the results 
of grazing and corn-growing, and on the assertion that meat 
being higher in price more stock should be raised. It is, how¬ 
ever, only asking that the old system of stocking in connection 
with cropping upon the old and well-known rotations may be 
maintained, and, if possible, extended. 
Our opinion is that the old system of stocking and cropping 
having broken down, except that of dairy farming and gi’azing 
fat cattle, there must be a new arrangement of both on the 
mixed soil farms before it can succeed. If we look to any of 
the best written essays in the Journal of Royal Agricultural 
Society of England, we find all the best practices set forth in 
the most practical manner by the most intelligent and experi¬ 
enced farmers, and notwithstanding the failures of a vast number 
of men who understood both stocking and cropping upon the old 
lines, it has been recommended to continue it. We shall there¬ 
fore commence our illustrations of the stocking and management 
of some of the best gi’azing farms in England, and endeavour to 
show what improvement can be made in their stocking and 
management. Let us take, as illustrative of our object, some of 
the best grazing farms in the vale of Aylesbury, also in the Win- 
canton vale of Somersetshire and in parts of Leicestershire, as 
well as some other counties, on which it is no uncommon practice 
to feed fat a bullock and a ewe and her lamb also per acre. 
Upon such land we find it is stated by Sir J. B. Lawes, in an 
article upon pasture land published in the Agricultural • ■Gcizettc 
on August 9th, 1880, as follows:—“ There is a common saying 
in Leicestershire, ‘ The more white Clover the more beef,’ and it 
is evident that in the pasture which I have had under exami¬ 
nation where this Clover occupies a very prominent position. It 
is probable that an increase of live weight equal to 500 lbs. is 
pi*oduced upon each acre of this land in the six-months grazing; 
but it is hardly possible to form any accurate measure of the 
amount of grass which is consumed in the production of this 
result.. In our various experiments upon fattening oxen we-esti¬ 
mated that about 12 to 13 lbs. of dry food was consumed to 
produce t lb. of increase. Now, without going into the question 
of how far the grass on an acre of the Leicestershire pasture 
would be equivalent to the food I have named, its consumption 
at all events brings about the same result so far as the pro¬ 
duction of 500 lbs. increase of live weight in a fattening animal 
is concerned, and we thus get, in the comparison, some idea of 
the wonderful qualities of such a pasture as that which I have 
had under examination.” This at once shows, in connection with 
other farms of pasture land which we could mention, the great 
value of such land, but it by no means shows how many of the 
best farms may be better conducted. For instance, sheep are 
kept on the land simultaneously with bullocks, and these we 
know feed closer than cattle, and eat out the buds and stems of 
