SCOTCH HILL SHEEP. 261 



ing, which is so much objected to on the better class of old 

 pasture land. As summer advances on the hills, neither cattle 

 nor sheep care much to eat the leaves of this grass, they become 

 so hard and rough. Its great value is as a winter food. If cut 

 early it makes excellent hay, and gives a large yield. 



Many of the hardier natural grasses unite with the plants 

 already mentioned to 'form a covering for the surface of the 

 ground, but are a little later in the season before coming to 

 much account. Among those we may name (occupying the 

 land best united to each) Meadow Fescue, Sheep's Fescue, and 

 hard Fescue, particularly the latter, which is often very abund 

 ant, on dry places as well as on land after draining. It has a 

 large range of soil which it seems to consider suitable. Crested 

 dogstail is another excellent hardy grass, which is often abund- 

 ant ; and the various Poas also make their appearance, as well 

 as Agrostis alha or " Fiorin," the latter often to a large extent. 

 On mossy land which has been drained and improved, Yorkshire 

 fog, Holcus lanatus, may ahvays be found. This can hardly be 

 classed as one of the best grasses, only it is most valuable in 

 this way, that it is often the only grass that will grow for a time 

 on reclaimed moss. Fiorin, after a while, mingles with it on 

 such a place, and other grasses come gradually as useful vegetable 

 matter accumulates and the soil becomes richer. Yorksliire fog, 

 liowever, taken as a hill grass, kept well down and eaten young, is 

 not so bad as usually considered. Of plants that do good 

 by merely covering the land, there is the little toad rush, Juncus 

 hiifonius, which springs up after draining, as it were spontaneously 

 on those bare patches seen on level peat-moss land, which has 

 been excessively wet from stagnation of surface water. 



Thistles are by no means so objectionable on hill land as they 

 are on an arable farm. Several varieties are found, eaten 

 close down to the crown in hard springs, and are valuable, as 

 most green plants are at that season. It is a well known fact 

 that thistles are quite palatable to animals, and it is only 

 because of the j)rickles that they are not eaten. When thistle^ 

 are cut before they get too large, and allowed to lie in the sun 

 for a few hours to wither, but not long enough to become hard, 

 cattle pick them up and eat them greedily. Although we 

 usually think of thistles as worthless weeds, they are highly and 

 justly valued in jdaces. In some districts of New Zealand, after 

 thistle seed was imjtorted, it was thought tlic whole country 

 would be ruined by the obnoxious plant — it grew so luxuriantly 

 and spread so wide — but in a few years it turned out to be one 

 of the greatest blessings the country has seen ; ami the seed is 

 now bought by those who can atVord it at veiy high prices, and 

 actually sown on land to be taken in. The i)lant grows enor- 

 mously for a few years to the exclusion of everything else, and 



