258 THE NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FOOD OF 



Draw-moss is most valuable when situated in a low and 

 sheltered place. Good " moss " is often found on the exposed, 

 wet tops of high hills, but is of no use in stormy weather, 

 which is often too frequent at the very time the food is most 

 w^anted. There is one very important point in the treatment of 

 draw moss land on which too much stress cannot be laid, and to 

 neglect which is ruinous in the extreme, and that is, it must not 

 he over-drained. The wetter the land, the more luxuriant the 

 plant grows, and the earlier does it come in spring. The land 

 must only be dry enough to allow sheep to pass freely on to it, 

 and no drier. This point can be easily ascertained practically. 

 Many a man has ruined his farm, his stock, and himself, by 

 draining such places " not wisely, but too well." Burning is not, 

 as a rule, suited to land of this description. Now and again, if 

 getting very foul, it may be allowed, but by no means frequently, 

 as it weakens the plant, and renders it of little service the first 

 season, 



Carices, or common sedges, might have been taken sooner if 

 we had been arranging the plants in order of their early growth. 

 Though valuable, they are nut of so much importance as those 

 that have been already mentioned, because they occupy but a 

 small proportion of the surface area. There are very many 

 different species commonly found, but the two most useful that we 

 specially mention are the tufted and carnation carices, C. cmspitosa 

 and -panicea. These may be seen growing all the winter in damp 

 places, more or less according to the kind of season, and are sought 

 after and eaten by sheep. The " pry " hay of some districts is 

 made from sedges. This is the first illustration we have come 

 to of a plant, which is valuable on hill pasture, but which is 

 despised in the south and considered an indication of poverty, or 

 rather of wetness, which is a synonymous term in many cases. The 

 carnation grass (so called from its peculiar glaucous green colour) 

 of the south of England is a well known indication of a cold 

 clay subsoil, or what we in Scotland would term a " till-bottom," 



Common nard, mat-grass or wire-grass, Nardiis stricta, is 

 hardier, and comes earlier in spring than any other grass. It 

 appears in a good year and in an early district in March, while 

 in a cold vear or on the Highland hills often a month later. 

 After getting a start, however, it keeps growing, although the 

 weather be very backward. In exceptionally mild seasons, as 

 1883-84, new leaves spring in autumn and continues to grow 

 the whole winter and is constantly eaten. It grows to perfection 

 only on hard dry land, and is, somehow or another, found in 

 abundance on farms much subject to " trembling " or " louping- 

 ill." We don't for a moment suppose it has anything to do with 

 the production or encouragement of the disease, only this is a 

 coincidence which has been noti3ed and remarked upon. It is 



