A 



when the ground lies in hills ; and will alfo caufe the 

 turf to thicken, fo as to have what the people ufually 

 term a good bottom. The Grafs likewile will be the 

 fvveeter for this hufbandry, and it will be a great help 

 to deftroy bad weeds. 



Another improvement of upland Paftures is the feed- 

 ing them every other year ; for where this is not prac- 

 tiled, the land mufl be manured at leaft every third 

 year ; and where a farmer hath much arable land in 

 his poffeffion, he will not care to part with his ma- 

 nure to the Failure. Therefore every farmer fhould 

 endeavour to proportion his Pafture to his arable land, 

 ..efpecially where manure is fcarce, otherways he will 

 foon find his error ; for the Pafture is the foundation 

 of all the profit, which may arife from the arable land. 

 Whenever the upland Paftures are mended by ma- 



^ ■ nure, there ftiould be a regard had to the nature of 

 the foil, and a proper fort of manure applied : as for 

 inftance, all hot fandy lands fhould have a cool ma- 

 nure ; neats dung and fwines dung are very proper 

 for fuch lands, as alfo marie and clay ; but for cold 

 lands, horfe dung, afties, or fand, and other warm 

 manures, are proper. And when thefe are applied, 

 it {hould be done in autumn, before the rains have 

 foaked the ground, and rendered it too foft to cart 

 on -, and it ftiould be carefully fpread, breaking all 

 . the clods as fmall as poffible, and early in the fpring 

 harrowed with bufties, to let it down to the roots of 

 the Grafs. > When the manure is laid on at this fea- 



.': fon, the rains in winter will wafti down the falts, fo 



■ ■ that the following fpring the Grafs will receive the 



advantage of it. 



There fhould alfo be great care had to the deftroying 



of weeds in the Pafture, every fpring and autumn ; 



for where this is not praftifed, the weeds will ripen 



their feeds, which will fpread over the ground, and 



. thereby fill it with fuch a crop of weeds as will foon 

 over-bear the Grafs, and render it very weak, if not 

 deftroy it ; and it will be very difficult to root them 



." cut, after they have gotten fuch pofleflion -, efpeci- 

 ally Ragwort, Hawkweed, Dandelion, and fuch other 



. . weeds as have down adhering to their feeds. 



■ ■ Thefe upland Paftures feldom degenerate the Grafs 

 . .': which is fown on them, if thfe land is tolerably good ; 



. ^ whereas the low meadows, which are overflowed in 

 .-winter, in a few years turn to a harfti ruftiy Grafs, 

 but the upland will continue a fine fweet Grafs for^ 



^ ! 



' --m 



:. . many years without renewing, 



J There is no part of huft)andry, of which the farmers 

 .-.;': are in general more ignorant, than that of the Paf- 

 • ture ; moft of them fuppofe, that when the old Paf- 

 rii.ture is ploughed up, it can never be brought to have 

 a good fward again ; fo their common method of ma- 

 naging their land after ploughing, and getting two 

 •^t.or three crops of Corn is, to fow with their crop of 

 *: Barley, fome Grafs-feeds, as they call them -, that is, 

 i.^leither the red Clover, which they intend to ftand two 

 v> years after the Corn is taken off the ground, or Rye- 

 grafs mixed with Trefoil j but as all thefe are at moft 

 tL-buc biennial plants, wliofe roots decay ftfeh after their 

 • feeds are perfeded, fothe ground having rib crop up- 

 y on it, is again ploughed for Corn ; and this is the 

 :::r.conftant round which the lands are employed in, by 

 ': the better fort of farmers ; for I never have met with 

 :l one of them, whVRad the leaft notion'of laying down 

 tJ their land to Grafs for any longer continuance'; tHere- 

 * * fore the feeds which they ufually fow, are the beft 

 , ..adapted for this purpofe. 

 6:':But whatever may have been the praftice of thefe 

 :;*^people, I hope to prove, that it is poffible to lay 

 nkdown land, which has been in tillage, with Grafs, in 

 /uJfuch manner as that the fward ffiall be as good, if not 

 "■^better, than any natural Grafs, and of as long dura- 

 . tion. But this is never to be expefted, in the common 

 ' method of fowing a crop of Corn with the Grafs- 

 feeds i for wherever this hath been pradifed, if the 

 Corn has fucceeded well, the Grafs has been very 

 ' poor and weak ; fo that if the land has not been very 

 good, the Grafs has fcarcely been worth ftanding -, for 

 . the following year it has producedbut little hay, and 





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the year after the crop is v/orth little, either to irow 

 or feed. Nor can it be expefted it fhould be onicr- 

 wife, for the ground cannot nourifti two crops ^ and 

 if there were no deficiency in the land, yet the Co'-a 

 being the firft, and moft vigorous of growth, will keen 

 the Grafs from making any confider'able proarefs . fo 

 that the plants will be extremely weak and b^ut very 

 thin, many of them which came up in the fprin^: be 



> 



--■-■ - 



ing deftroyed by the Corn ; for wherever there ^^e 

 roots of Corn, it cannot be expefled there fhould k 

 any Grafs. ^ Therefore the Grafs muft be thin, Ind" 

 if the land is not in good heart to fupply the'Orafs 

 with nourifhment, that the roots may branch out af- 

 ter the Corn is gone, there cannot be any confiderabie 

 crop of Clover; and as thefe roots are biennial, many 

 of the ftrongeft plants will perifli foon after they are 

 cut ; and the weak plants, which had made but little 

 progrefs before, will be the principal part of the crop 

 for the fucceeding year, which is many times not 

 worth ftanding. 



Therefore, when ground is laid down for Grafs, there 

 fhould be no crop of any kind fovv^n with the feeds • 

 and the land fhould be well ploughed, and gleaned 

 from weeds -, otherwife the weeds will come up the 

 firft, and grow fo ftrong, as to overbear the Grafs, 

 and if they are not pulled up, will entirely fpoil it. The 

 beft feafon to fow the Grafs feeds upon dry land is 

 about the middle of Auguft, if there is an appearance 

 of rain ; for the ground being then warm, if there hap- 

 pen fome good fhowers of rain after the feed is fown, 

 the Grafs will foon make its appearance,' and getfuf- 

 ficient rooting in the ground before winter, fo will not 

 be in danger of having the roots turned out of the 

 ground by the froft, efpecially if the ground is well 

 rolled before the froft comes on, which will prefs it 

 down, and fix the earth clofe to the roots. Where 



' this hath not been praftifed, the froft has often loof- 

 ened the ground fo much, as to let in the air to the 



■ roots'bf the Grafs, and done it great damage; and 

 this has been brought as fin objeftion totKe'autumnal 

 fowing of Grafs; but it will be found to have no 

 weight, if the above diredlion is praftifed-, nor is 

 tliere any hazard in fowing the Grafs at this feafon, 

 but that of dry weather after the feeds are fown ; for 



■ if the Grafs comes up well, and* the ground is well 

 rolled in the middle or end of October, and repeated 

 the beginning of March, the fward will be clcfcly 

 joined at bottom, and a good crop of hay may be ex- 

 pefted the fame fummer. In very open, expofd, 

 cold lands, it is proper to fow the feeds earlier than 

 is here mentioned, that the Grafs may havedme to 

 get good rooting, before the cold feafon comes on 

 to ftop its growth -, for in fuch fituations, vegetation 

 is over early in the autumn, fo the Grafs being weak, 

 may be deftroyed by froft : but if the feeds are fown 

 in the beginning of Auguft, and a few fhowers fol- 



■ low foon after to bring up the Grafs, it will fucceed 

 ■" much better than any which is fown in the fpring, as 



. li have feveral years experienced, on fome places as 

 ■much expofed as moft in England.- But where , the 

 /'ground cannot be prepared for fowing at that feafon, 

 "^:tt'may be performed' the middle or latter end of 

 ■''March, according to the fealpn's being early or late ; 

 for in backward fprings and in cold land, I have often 

 -fowed the Grafs in the middle of Apnlwith fuccefs; 

 but there is danger iri fowing late of dry weather, 

 and efpecially if the land is light and dry; for I have 

 fecn many times the whole furface of the ground' re^ 

 moved by ftrong winds at that leafon, fo that the feeds 

 have been driven in heaps to one fide of the field. 

 Therefore whenever the feeds arc fciwn late in the 

 fpring. It will be proper to roll the ground well foon 

 after the feeds are fown, to fettle the furface, and pre- 

 vent its being removed. 



The forts of feeds which are the beft for this pur- 

 pofe, are the beft fort of upland hay-feeds, taken 

 from'the cleaneft Paftures, where there are no bad 

 weeds; if this feed is fifted to clean it from rubbim, 

 . three, or at moft four bufhcls, will be fufficient to 



.'fow an acreof land. -The other fort is the Trifolium 



pratenk 



1 . - - 



