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Introduction by Sir R. George Stapledon

Author's Prefaces

Author's opportunities for forming so-and conclusions as to the changes required by the times; Remodelling our agricultural system; The writings of Arthur Young; The importance of local experience; New system of farming suitable to the habits of gentlemen; New system of farming provides deeply tilled, humus-fed soil, ensuring good crops; British agriculture will revive if suitable changes of system are made; Proposed changes are to the mutual advantage of landlords and tenants; Similar principles laid down by M. Porcius Cato 2,000 years ago; Why farmers oppose agricultural changes; Falsity of the old saw as to 'making a pasture breaking a man'; Agricultural changes adopted in La Manche Agricultural schools and experimental farms aid the Normandy farmers; Great Britain requires Government agricultural schools and experimental farms

The dominating principle as regards the change of system; The cheap production of a good turf-the solution of all our agricultural difficulties; Worthlessness of Bi-metallism and Protection as remedies for agricultural depression; Land legislation no cure for our agricultural difficulties; Farming was more profitable when rents were higher; Turf is the best manurial agent; A mixture of deep-rooting plants will at once till, manure, and clean the land; Crops less liable to disease, and weeds abolished; Locke's Conduct of the Understanding; Lord Leicester's system of farming light lands; Seed mixture used by Lord Leicester; Author's mixture will provide a better turf in less time; A green crop should follow pasture

Sir John Lawes' opinion on the importance of good Physical condition. of soil; Mr. Faunce de Laune's opinion on the same point; The physical condition of the soil is of even more importance than the, strictly speaking, chemical condition; Laying down land to permanent grass; Deep-rooting plants are the best cultivating and fertilizing agents; Illustrations of soil disintegration by the agency of roots; Laying down two high, poor land, exhausted fields; The Inner and Outer Kaimrig field experiments; Remarkable results obtained after relaying one of the fields; Taking turnips after grass; Practical illustrations of the value of drought-resisting plants, such as Chicory, Burnet, Kidney Vetch, and Yarrow; The value of Burnet and Yarrow for keeping sheep in good health, and especially in diminishing diarrhoea; Deep and strong-rooting plants extinguish couch grasses, and lessen moss; Turnips grown without manure; The Clifton Park system of farming explained; Farmers are not aided by Government schools and farms as are agriculturists abroad; Losses resulting from want of proper means of instruction; Efforts of County Councils of little practical value to farmers

Brief account of Arthur Young's life and works; His great unpublished work--The Elements and Practice of Agriculture; Chicory introduced into England by Arthur Young in 1798; The great value of Chicory; Advantages and disadvantages of Chicory; Burnet, its uses and value; The excessive use of turnips undesirable; Rouen, or aftermath preserved for spring use; The use of fog, or the growth of the whole year preserved for winter and spring use; Arthur Young on laying down land to grass; Browsing; Arthur Young's remarkable personality

Dr. Keith's Agriculture of Aberdeenshire; Dr. Anderson's remarks on Ryegrass; 'Observations of British Grasses'; Various methods of laying down land to grass; The after-management of permanent pasture; Importance of rolling the land after grasses have come up; Pastures should not be overstocked the first year; Clifton Park Seed Mixtures may be grazed throughout the first year, and hayed the second or subsequent years; Importance of re-seeding vacant patches in pastures; Moss in pastures; Treatment of the pasture in the third and fourth years; How to obtain greatest amount of winter and spring keep from pastures; Rouen, or preserved aftermath; 'Fogging the land' in South Wales; Shutting-up a pasture at Sharsted Court; Fine pastures may be formed from the largest grasses; Advantages from letting up a pasture as regards re-seeding and prevention of moss; Hill pastures might be improved if treated on the Welsh fogging system

Danger of regulating present practices by previous customs which may not be founded on a sound experience; Cause of the preference for Ryegrass; Mr. James Hunter's note thereon; The Ryegrass controversy; Sinclair's opinion as to Cocksfoot being superior to Ryegrass; The effect of plant roots on the soil; The grass mixtures usually sown not founded on sound principles; New grass mixtures used by author; The value of deep-rooting plants for breaking up hard pans; Chicory, Burnet, and Kidney Vetch as subsoilers; Chicory superior to Parsnip as a deep-rooter; Opinions of a well-known farmer as regards two poor land fields; Probable results had sheep been fed with oilcake; Importance of careful tillage and seeding; Liberal seeding essential to success; The number of germinating seeds required to sow an acre; Quality of seed of great importance; The Lake field laid down with seeds from two different sources, and the results; Differences in plants grown from seed produced in various climates should be further investigated; Remarks on Cocksfoot, the most valuable of grasses; The management of Cocksfoot; Tall Fescue grass; Tall Oat grass; The three most important grasses; Grass mixture of hardy, drought-resisting, health-preserving, and deep-rooting plants; Timothy grass; Italian Ryegrass; Perennial Ryegrass, Meadow Fescue, and Meadow Foxtail grasses; Fertile, or Late-flowering Meadow grass; Rough-stalked Meadow grass; Golden Oat, Smooth-stalked Meadow, Hard Fescue, and Sweet Vernal grasses; Crested Dogstail, Wood Meadow, Fine-leaved Fescue, and Nerved Meadow grasses; Late-flowering Red, White, and Alsike Clovers; Kidney Vetch and Yarrow; Lucerne, Sainfoin, Birdsfoot Trefoil, Sheep's Parsley, and Cotton grass

Aversion of agriculturists to intellectual exertion; The mental condition of landlords, tenant farmers, and factors in regard to agricultural matters; Need for experimental farms for the instruction of those connected with land; Visitors to Clifton-on-Bowmont farm; The Board of Agriculture and its policy; 'Can the blind lead the blind?'; Experiments at Cockle Park, Morpeth; Exhaustion of humus not remedied by use of artificial manures; Manurial experiments with hay and potatoes at Cockle Park; Experiments with potatoes at Clifton-on-Bowmont; Experiments with sheep at Cockle Park; Two sets of experiments required on experimental farms; The Government asked to take lease of Clifton-on-Bowmont experimental farm; Central seed-testing station not yet established

Indian proverb--the three great desires of man; The American Constitution; Landlord's rights in Ireland; The landlord should farm with a view to least risk; Clifton-on-Bowmont farm yields rent, interest on capital, and shows a steady increase in fertility; Landlords should themselves farm the inferior portions of their property; System of farming at Clifton-on-Bowmont described; Sheep stock at Clifton-on-Bowmont; Cattle at Clifton-on-Bowmont; Poultry; Landed Improvements; Agriculture our biggest industry; Foreign. Competition; The stock of this country might be greatly increased; What is a true rotation of crops?; Nitrogen collecting crops; Agriculture on a sound footing; Extreme economy of production; Leguminous crops absolutely essential to maintain the fertility of the soil; Increase of rural population; Climatic effect of woods and shelters; Recent land legislation; Nationalization of land; Nationalized, and permanently settled lands in British India; Irish Land Act of 1881; Letter to Author's Agent in King's Co.; English foresight; Threatened legislation

Grass seeds commonly used for laying down land to grass greatly differ in appearance, etc.; The germination of seeds; The weight of the seed as a test of quality; The number of seeds in a given weight of the different species of grasses varies greatly; The cost per million germinating seeds; Standard of quality of seeds for grass mixtures; The quantity of grass and clover seeds sufficient to sow an acre; The average price of seeds for the years 1898 to 1907; The relative productiveness of various grasses; Grasses arranged in the order of their cost for seeds to sow an acre; More seed required when land not in fine tilth; The mixing of grass and clover seeds

Mr. Faunce de Laune's Paper on 'Laying down land to Permanent Pasture', and its important results; Condition of the Grass Seed Trade in this country; An easy and safe method of obtaining good seeds; The excessive use of clover

The Inner Kaimrig experiment; The Outer Kaimrig experiment; The Bank Field experiment; Experiments in Alghope field; Difference between five-course rotation and that on Author's farm; Experiments of the Cambridge University Department of Agriculture at Abbotsley with Permanent Pasture on poor clay soil; Success of the Clifton Park System in growing potatoes without manure; Turnips grown without manure; Causes of young pastures failing; Mixture of drought-resisting plants for bare rocky surfaces; Importance of drought-resisting plants; How most cheaply to re-seed pastures; The grazing of pastures; Aftermath must be lightly grazed; Effects of haying land the first year; Importance of rolling land; Effects of the System in preventing loss from wash; Moss, important result in Outer Kaimrig; Moss, letting up fogged-up, or mossed-up, hill pastures; Safety of the system as regards hay and pasture; Effects of the system in abolishing weeds; Comparison of the results of the new system with those of an adjacent farm; Grass inoculation; Success of the system as regards crops, stock and cultivation; Effect of system after ploughing the second turf; Filling up vacant spots in first year's grass; Success of the system as regards turnip disease; Advantage of deep-rooted plants; Dew ponds; Manures used for turnips at Clifton-on-Bowmont; Why land on my system increases in fertility; Decomposition of vegetable matter; On the quantity of clover seed that should be used; The downward penetration of Chicory and Burnet; Experiments with different varieties of chicory; Importance of laying down foul land at two operations; The agreement of plants and trees in nature; The excessive use of ryegrass; General success of the system; Financial results; Professor Barnes' communication; The purchase of grass seeds; Comparison between turf from old pasture and that from deep-rooting plants; The mixing and sowing of grass seeds at Clifton-on-Bowmont; The work of the Board of Agriculture; Concluding remarks

Note by Dr. Voelcker on comparison of the soils of old Cheviot turf and five-year-old pasture; Second note by Dr. Voelcker on the composition and character of the soil of the Bankfield; Third note by Dr. Voelcker

Shelters; Hop shelters or 'lews' in east Kent

Notes of the Stock kept at Clifton-on-Bowmont Farm; Rotation of Crops at Clifton-on-Bowmont

Tenant farmer's letter on Clifton Park system, and method of taking turnips after lea; The opinion of a well-known Border Agriculturist about the farming and stocking of Clifton-on-Bowmont farm

Suggested Changes of Farming System : Paper read at a meeting of Border Union Agricultural Society, October 1902

The Clover Mystery, a probable solution of it: Paper read at a meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, at Cambridge, 19th August 1904; Postscript to paper read at the meeting of the British Association at Cambridge, 1904

ROBERT H. ELLIOT OF CLIFTON PARK (frontispiece, above)

A VIEW OF CLIFTON PARK HOUSE, ROXBURGHSHIRE

JAMES HUNTER

MICRO-PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE SEEDS OF THE VARIOUS GRASSES AND CLOVERS USED IN THE CLIFTON PARK SYSTEM (note: four lithographic glossy plates in the original; these are reproduced within the text where relevant).

A MAP OF CLIFTON-ON-BOWMONT EXPERIMENT AND DEMONSTRATION FARM (note: a rather large download)