290 FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 



short June grass, red-top, red clover, white clover, and some timothy. The 

 land is capable of better things. Next to it is a field, no better land, from 

 which I have twice within ten years taken over three tons per acre of cured 

 hay. Not even tile draining and top <iressing will restore such old pastures 

 and meadows. A rich ten-acre field of good, newly seeded pasture will 

 'carry' more cows than forty acres of old pasture." 



The seeding down to good, permanent pasture, even under the most favor- 

 able conditions, is a slow and costly process. As we must infer, the climate 

 and situation have much to do in helping solve the question whether to keep 

 land permanantly in grass, or whether to include the grass in a rotation of 

 crops. 



At the present day, even in England, some of the most advanced farmers 

 favor breaking up the dryer arable land, and believe in this way they can 

 obtain the largest yield of animal food. 



In favorable climates, land which will permanently support a good growth 

 of grass must be naturally of the very best quality, in good heart, well pre- 

 pared, and afterwards liberally manured for some years. 



There are a few excellent farms in Southern Michigan, in Ohio, Kentucky, 

 Wisconsin, and neighboring States, which contain permanent pasture of good 

 quality, and which yield liberally. Generally the grass does not continue uni- 

 form. It dies out or becomes thin in some places, and vacancies are filled 

 with grasses of poorer quality, or with weeds of no value. 



In Johnson's Agricultural Chemistry we read: ''It is pretty generally 

 acknowledged that land laid down to grasses for one, two, three, or more 

 years is in some degree rested or recruited, and that it diminishes in value 

 again after two, three, or five years, more or less, unless some manure be given 

 to them. The opinion is due largely to the annual production of roots (and 

 rootstocks) on old grass land, which is equal to one-third or one-fourth of 

 the weight of hay carried off." 



The roots of grasses extend deeper than is generally supposed. These with 

 the stubble, old leaves, and turf, make a large amount of vegetable matter. 

 Mr. Lawes estimates that on a good pasture they will weigh from five to ten 

 tons per acre of dry matter, containing accumulated nitrogen to the extent of 

 one ton. 



In rather dry climates, where the rootstocks and roots of an old pasture 

 have formed a mat of vegetable materials, the yield may be much increased 

 by plowing and harrowing the land and let the grass again occupy the soil. 

 This plan is especially well adapted to renewing the yield of June grass, 

 quack grass, Bermuda grass, and Johnson grass. 



In reference to permanent grass lands, J. Julie, of England, in his " Gold 

 Medal " essay, makes the following remarks in Jour. Koy. Ag. Soc. for 1883: 

 "The cultivation of roots and cereals deprives the soil of nitrogen, whilst 

 that of grass and leguminous plants, temporary or permanent, on the con- 

 trary causes it to accutnulate in the soil. That nitrogen being the most 

 expensive to buy, it is not economical to devote part of the land absolutely to 

 arable and part to grass, for whilst the one uses up the nitrogen, the other 

 accumulates it in excess. It is preferable to alternate on the same piece of 

 land the cultivation of roots and cereals with that of grass lays. By this 

 means cultivation can be kept up indefinitely without purchasing nitrogen, 

 provided the land be maintained in a fit state of richness as regards the min- 

 eral elements. The occupation of land by a grass for two or three years which 



