134 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



a permanent pasture. When a soil is once well sodded with 

 this grass, it will endure the vicissitudes of the seasons — 

 heat and cold, sunshine and shade, droughts and floods — with 

 wonderful persistency. It is the source of wealth in sections 

 adapted to it , and there are pastures of it fifty years of age 

 still luxuriant and profitable. It throws up flower-stalks but 

 once in the season , but it starts quickly after grazing, and 

 forms a thick green growth. 



Of the late grasses, there is no better, on the whole, for 

 land that is adapted to it, than Timothy ; but if it is allowed 

 to stand too long, as every farmer knows, it becomes hard and 

 wood3^ I think we have made a mistake in allowing it to 

 stand too long. I know very well that we cut earlier now 

 than we did twenty years ago : we have gained, on the aver- 

 age, fully a fortnight over and above what was the universal 

 practice and custom twenty years ago, and perhaps a little 

 more than that. But where the whole farm, or the larger 

 part of the area of the farm, is stocked with these late 

 grasses, if you wait until the Timothy and red-top are in blos- 

 som, before you get through, a considerable part of the grasses 

 will have become too old. The sweet juices of the grasses — 

 the sugar, gum, and other elements which add to their nu- 

 tritious qualities — rapidly change in the process of ripening 

 after the blossom is formed ; or rather these elements are 

 stored up in the seed. Unless they are cut at the proper 

 time, the grasses very soon become hard, woody, and com- 

 paratively indigestible. 



In seeding down land for pasture, the object is to have a 

 continuous growth throughout the season. Early and late 

 grasses are wanted ; and the largest number of varieties will, 

 other things being equal, give the best results. There is no 

 objection to the use of any kind of grass-seed ; and, with the 

 greatest variety, the prospect of getting a close and firm-set 

 turf is greatly increased. The English farmers are ahead of 

 us in this respect. They seek and use all the varieties they 

 can find, apparently, and take infinite pains to secure the 

 best results. In order to learn of the best and most recent 

 improvements in their practice in seeding down for pasture, 

 a circular was sent, not long ago, to the best grass-growers 

 in different parts of the kingdom, to ascertain their opin- 

 ions j and the following mixtures are some of their returns. 



