238 On the Manuring of Grass Land. 



The following mixture can hardly be called manure, but, as it 

 is said to destroy moss, it is included : — 



Lime li ton. 



Salt i toil. 



The salt should be dissolved in the water with which the lime is 

 slaked, and the whole applied after a sharp harrowing'. The ex- 

 tirpation of moss is not attributed to lime and salt only, for am- 

 moniacal liquor from gas-works is said to destroy moss more 

 permanently than lime.* 



I Avould remind the farmer, however, that the effects of this 

 substance are altogether exhausting, and that it must be alternated 

 with manures which contain other elements of plant-food, or the 

 land to which it is applied will speedily diminish in productive- 

 ness : — 



Gas liquor 150 gallons, diluted with 500 water, gave — 



Is'othing 201 cwt. Laj*. 



Dressed GU ,, 



Gain 41 cwt. hay.f 



Tliis land must have been exceedingly rich in all other elements 

 of grass, or it could not have given so large a yield for such an 

 application. 



I apprehend the destruction of moss is due to tlie r/rass and 

 not to the substances applied as manure. Anything whicli pro- 

 motes the growth of a good crop of grass is destructive of moss, 

 for the grass smothers the moss and kills it, and then new grass- 

 plants take its place. Moss appears to me to be merely a lower 

 form of vegetable life, which occupies land chemically unfit for 

 higher vegetation, and when we remove the water (if wetness 

 conduce to its growth) and supply the elements of nutrition for 

 higher forms of life, tlie moss disappears, and, in meadows and 

 pastures, grass-plants occupy its place. A moss-killer, then, is 

 such merely because it is a grass-producer. 



Rape-dust may be used economically, and, for a change, effi- 

 ciently : — 



£. s. (1. 



Eape-dust, 5 cwt., at 6s. Q>d 1 12 G 



Common salt, 1 cwt., at Is 1 



Earth, 2 tons, at Is 2 



Mixing 10 



Turning once 1 



Cartage and spreading 2 



£1 19 G- 



* Johnston, Agricultural Chemistry, p. 213. 

 t Johnston, Experimental Agriculture, p. 191. 



