Manor Farm, Braydon, Wilts. 387 



quantities amounting; to several tons, this may be the case ; but 

 the application of artificial manures, though plainly perceptible by 

 the effects they produce, is inappreciable by analysis. If we bear 

 in mind that an acre of clay soil 6 inches deep weighs at least 

 1000 tons, it is evident that the addition of a few hundredweights 

 of phosphatic manure, containing probably not more than 12 or 

 15 per cent, of phosphoric acid, can but increase the percentage 

 of this constituent in a degree so trifling as to fall short of the 

 variations that must ever be expected to occur in two equally 

 good analyses of the same sample of soil. 



Chakacter of Herbage in Original and Improved 



State. 



When we first visited Braydon, in April, 1862, the land was 

 very Avet, the herbage wiry, scanty, full of sedges, bent-grass, 

 and a great variety of coarse pasture-weeds. A careful examina- 

 tion of the hay from the unimproved herbage revealed, amongst 

 others, the following plants : — 



1. Alopecurus Pratensis, Meadow Foxtail. 



2. Poa Annua, Annual Meadow-grass. This grass, which 

 occurs almost everywhere, is very abundant in wet soils ; it is a 

 common weed on waste places, and has very little feeding 

 value. 



3. Poa Pratensis, Smooth-stalked Meadow-grass. 



4. Briza Media, Quaking-grass ; a grass which is of no use in 

 an agricultural point of view. It frequently indicates poor, stiff, 

 undrained clays, and is very common on the Oxford Clays, Forest 

 Marble, and London Clay. Cattle do not eat this grass, and its 

 culms therefore may be observed late in the season. 



5. Agrostis Stolonifera, Marsh Bent-grass. 



6. Phleum Pratense, Timothy Grass ; very small specimens. 



7. Lolium Perenne, Perennial Rye-grass. 



8. Festuca Duriuscula, Hard Fescue. 



9. Bromus Mollis, Soft Brome, or " Lop " grass. Hay con- 

 taining much of this grass is always poor, and its presence 

 indicates an impoverished soil. 



10. Cynosurus Cristatus, Dog's-tail Grass ; a poor pasture- 

 grass. 



11. Centaurea Nigro, Common black Knap-weed, Hardheads, 

 Horn-knops ; very abundant. 



12. Cardus Palustris, Marsh-plume Thistle ; common in wet, 

 clayey pastures. 



13. Several species of Carex, Sedges, or Carnation Grass. 



14. J uncus Campestris, and others of the same family. Rushes 

 generally found in poor, wet soils. 



