ON THE M.VNAGEMENT OF GRASS LANDS IN ENGLAND. 119 



mowing. Our experience fully corroborates these views, for we 

 found ryegrass, of which the hay mostly consisted, a very ex- 

 hausting crop, and, unless in special circumstances, we hayed 

 very little for a quarter of a century, and that only to be utilised 

 as seed, and for the farm horses in spring. The decadence of 

 the pasture by mowing may be as much owing to the weaken- 

 ing of the plant as the carrying off of the crop from the land. 

 Of course the ground may be recruited by one or other of the 

 accredited grass manures ; but unless by going to a great ex- 

 pense, we always thought that tlie feeding of the ground by sheep 

 or cattle had a greater restorative power than a considerable 

 dressing on light land. 



Opinions are still considerably divided, as to whether seeds 

 should be laid down with or without a crop. Those who ad- 

 vocate and practice the sowing down without a crop, argue that 

 should there be a deficient plant, the crop is left to flower, and 

 stand till the seeds ripen and drop, and thus by replenishing the 

 ground, a closer bottom is secured for succeeding years. If not 

 requiring this renovating process, the seeds are ready for grazing 

 by June, and should weeds threaten to impair the cultivated 

 plants, they can be mowed timely to prevent them seeding. It 

 is also true that without a crop stronger and deeper rooted plants 

 are secured ; which, in case of a severe winter following, run less 

 risk of being killed. But in the face of these facts most farmers 

 prefer the flrst advantage, which though it may not be ultimately 

 the most profitable, yields the more immediate benefit. 



We intended to have given some particulars of the manage- 

 ment of pasture lands in the famous county of Northampton, as 

 so correctly carried out by Mr George King of East Haddon, as 

 well as the system followed on the manor farms at Berkswell 

 in Warwickshire, where a kind of convertible husbandry is 

 practised by Mr M'Nicoll, the steward ; but, as this paper is 

 already so lengthy, we must refrain. 



The wealth of the world, it is said, lies in the weather ; and, 

 as heat and moisture are the chief elemental influences that 

 control husbandry in all its departments, we subjoin a table of 

 the temperature and rainfall of Cardington, which we lately 

 drew up for publication in an agricultural newspaper, and which 

 may be accepted as a fair sample of the South Midland Counties 

 of England. By way of comparison we also taljulate the records 

 of the Braemar Observatory. The readings are for the year 

 1873, and the rainfall, and the highest, loM'est, and mean 

 temperatures are recorded for each month. It is noteworthy, 

 that though the site of the Braemar Observatory stands 1114 

 feet above the level of the sea, the rainfall is not at all what 

 would be expected. In fact, the valley of Strathmore has 

 about the same amount of precipitation, for the mean annual 



