^64 Journal of Agriculture. [lo Nov., 1908. 



condition, and consequently has a more important indirect influence on the 

 soil and crop than the other forms of phosphatic fertilizers. Old pastures 

 are all the better for an occasional winter dressing of lime at the rate of 

 8 cwt. or 10 cwt. per acre to sweeten the ground and enhance the yield. 



General Management. 



I. Of Young Grass. — Autumn sown fields should be rolled, and, if 

 well forward, should be topped with the mower before the winter, so as to 

 induce a firm rooting, and encourage young crowns to tiller well, and 

 spread over the whole surface. When the spring growth starts, the roller 

 should be again used to strengthen the stand and to counteract the " heaving 

 out " effects of the winter frosts. Care should be taken that the young grass 

 does not run to seed, as many of the weaker grasses disappear after flower- 

 ing. Again, those grasses, like meadow fescue and crested dog's tail, that 

 take several years to come into full use, are almost invariablv thrown back 

 if allowed to seed during the first year or two; consequently the whole field 

 suffers a serious set back and the yield is impaired. On good country where 

 there is not much danger of the soil poaching, or of the young grass being 

 trodden out, the first summer's grass may be fed down with young cattle, 

 but on no account should sheep or horses be grazed, as thev bite far too 

 close and are apt to nip the heart out of the young plants, particularly of 

 the young clovers. Not until the second season should other than horned 

 stock be turned into young grass. It is folly indeed to go to the trouble 

 and expense of laying down a good field of grass, and then to cripple 

 it in its youth by feeding it bare in defiance of the teaching of centuries 

 of experience. On some classes of land and in certain seasons it will 

 pay better to run the mower over the young leaves and cart the stuff off 

 for green feed or silage or convert it into ha v. The aftermath can then 

 be fed off with young cattle. 



The ill-effects to be feared from stocking young grass too heavily, or 

 too early, are the treading out of the tender varieties, the uprooting of 

 the insecure plants, and the altering of the composition of the herbage due 

 to the partiality shown for the more palatable clovers and certain of the 

 grasses. In the following autumn the fields should be chain-harrowed 

 to distribute the droppings evenly over the field. This is a practice which 

 is sadly neglected in Victoria to the detriment of our pastures, and it may 

 be well to know that it is religiously carried out each year by New 

 Zealand farmers in respect of both young and old pastures. Evidently, 

 they clearly recognise that all but a small percentage of the nutriment 

 taken out of the soil is restored in the dung, and that, therefore, in order 

 to get the full benefit from the stock grazed, the manure must not be 

 allowed to lie in small heaps all over the paddock. 



Spring sown mixtures when seated on a nurse crop cannot be touched 

 until after the crop has been harvested. An examination of the stubble 

 should then show the young grass, but the appearance is not infrequently 

 disappointing. In a good season a fair amount of young grass and clover 

 will be found in the butts of the sheaves, but after a dry vear, little or 

 no appearance of the growth may be visible. However, a few timelv 

 showers will promote such rapid germination and growth that hope should 

 not be abandoned too readily. 



2. Old Pastures. — First and foremost I would mention the autumn 

 spreading of stock droppings so that the soluble food they contain may be 



