THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



315 



or ijlbs., to the rough-stalked meavlow grass. 

 Half-a-pound to one pound per acre of sweet- 

 scented vernal grass may be added or not, in 

 all soils, as pleasure dictates. It is not a valuable 

 pasture grass; but, from the sweet smell it imparts 

 to the hay with wiiich it is mixed, it is to a certain 

 extent useful on this account. 



In the great majority of cases grass seeds are 

 sown in spring along with a cereal crop, which is 

 allowed to ripen its seeds ; but when permanent 

 grass is the object, the best plan is to sow them 

 alone ; that is, any of the cereals sown along with 

 them, for the purpose of shelter, should not be 

 allowed to ripen. When grass seeds are sown in 

 autumn, a bushel of rye per statute acre should be 

 sown at same time ; and when the sowing takes 

 place in spring, a similar quantity of any of 

 the cereals will answer the purpose. Rape is 

 an excellent seed to sow along with grass seeds, 

 whether they are autumn or spring sown. From 

 3 to 4 lbs. an acre, sown broadcast, may be used ; 

 it shelters the young plants, and affords a most 

 valuable amount of forage for sheep when pastured 

 on the young grasses. 



When grass seeds are sown in autumn, they will 

 in ordinary cases have advanced sufficiently by 

 April to admit of being lightly stocked with sheep. 

 We are not partial to the system adopted by some, 

 in such cases, of stocking so heavily as to eat down 

 the young grasses to the root ; for we consider that 

 by doing so many of them are entirely destroyed. 

 It is, no doubt, a great temptation to a man who is, 

 perhaps, short enough otherwise of grass for his 

 ewes and lambs, when he has a field of young 

 grasses forward; but it is better to remove the 

 sheep for a week or ten days at a time, after being 

 grazed, so as to allow the young grass to shoot out 

 afresh. In like manner, spring-sown grasses must 

 be stocked as soon as they are sufficiently advanced 

 to afford a full bite. Cattle must not be allowed to 

 graze on the newly sown lands. In many districts 

 the land is full of small stones, and all which 

 would interfere with the scythe ought to ba 

 removed at any early period when most con- 

 venient. Some do this as soon as the grass seeds 

 are sown ; others defer it until after they have per- 

 haps been eaten down for the first time. In either 

 case, broad- wheeled carts ought to be used to 

 carry away the stones, so as to prevent the forma- 

 tion of ruts, as will be the case when narrow 

 wheels are employed. The frequent use of the 

 roller is highly advantageous in smoothing and 

 consolidating the surface. 



Although the production of hay should be an 

 object which it was desirable to attain, the grass 

 ought not to be mown the first year, but entirely 

 consumed by sheep. The second year's grass may 

 be mown, but as soon as the hay is removed, let a 

 wet day be selected to top-dress the field with 1 

 cwt. of Peruvian guano and 1 cwt. nitrate of soda 

 per statute acre, after which, when the grasses are 

 sufficiently grown, stock again with sheep. The 

 aftermath ought on no account to be mown, 

 neither should a hay crop be taken two years in 

 succession. In the after-management of the land, 

 should a crop of hay be taken, top-dressing imme- 

 diately afterwards either with guano and nitrate of 



soda, or with farm-yard manure in winter, must not 

 be omitted. A large extent of naturally excellent 

 grass land has been ruined by a two frequent repe- 

 tition of a hay crop, accompanied by a neglect of 

 top-dressing. 



2. The Renovation of Inferior and Worn- 

 out Pastures. 



In attempting the improvement of inferior pas- 

 tures, drainage must form the preliminary operation 

 in this as in the previous case. We know many 

 instances where thorough draining alone has acted 

 like magic in effecting a vast improvement of in- 

 ferior pasture lands, where the grass has been 

 changed through the influence of the drainage from 

 being of the coarsest kind, and greatly disliked by 

 stock, to sweet, fattening pastures, from which it 

 was almost impassible to keep out either cattle or 

 sheep if an open gate or a hole in a hedge could be 

 found by them. In a case to which we would par- 

 ticularly allude, the soil was a very tenacious clay, 

 and had been tile-drained at one time about two 

 feet deep, the drains running across the slope. The 

 grass, however, was never good; but when this 

 land was drained four feet deep, the drains running 

 up and down the slope, and only seven yards apart, 

 in the first year afterwards a great change for the 

 better was manifest, and each succeeding season 

 added to the value of the pastures. To expect to 

 improve inferior pastures which require draining 

 without that operation being carried into effect, is 

 simply to expect an impossibility ; and we may be 

 permitted to remark that there are more pastures 

 requiring drainage, and the want of which is the 

 primary cause of their inferiority, than many appear 

 to be aware of. One thing we may be certain of — 

 that as long as there is a single case of rot in sheep, 

 we may rest assured that the thorough-drain has 

 not been called upon to lend its aid in eradicating 

 the evil. 



If the land has become fogged, or covered with 

 mosses, the harrow may be used with good effect} 

 and afterwards let the opportunity of a damp morn- 

 ing be taken advantage of, to sow grass seeds over 

 the parts which have been most scarified by the 

 implement. 



The application of bone-dust, at the rate of say 

 twenty bushels per statute acre, is, we need scarcely 

 say, a most efficient mode of improving inferior 

 pastures. Instead, however, of putting them on 

 the land in their natural state, another method may 

 be adopted, and which we believe to be the better 

 plan. When grass land is drained — pipes being 

 used as under-ground conduit — let the filling of 

 the drains be finished neatly, without laying the top 

 sod on the surface. Collect these sods, and after 

 chopping them in pieces, form a heap, upon each 

 layer of which spread a quantity of bones, and also 

 coarse salt. There will be thus— first a layer of 

 earth, next a covering of bones and salt, then earth, 

 again bones and salt, and so on, until the heap is 

 say four feet high. The uppermost layer must be 

 of earth. The bones to be at the rate of 20 bush, 

 an acre, and the salt 5 cwt. The former will de- 

 compose rapidly, and become absorbed in this heap 

 of earth. It may be appUed to the land a month 



