On the Manuring of Grass Land. 243 



method of reasoning, they ought to have brought it again ; and 

 their failure was really past human comprehension. I shall not 

 easily forget the look of inquiring astonishment with which he 

 asked me the cause of the failure, nor the one of repressed but 

 unmistakable incredulity with which he received the explana- 

 tion. We cannot wonder at mistakes on the part of farmers, when 

 we meet with such instances as these among gentlemen of educa- 

 tion, by no means deficient in observation, and who farm for 

 pleasure. 



Will it pay to manure grass- land annually, so that it may at- 

 tain a maximum of fertility ? 



We must confess, the generality of farmers appear to think not. 

 Their views and practices are pretty fairly represented by the 

 following extract from Mr. Bennett's " Essay on the Farming of 

 Bedfordshire ":— * 



" Within the last ten or twelve years the proprietor has allowed much of 

 the second-rate quality fof grass] to be broken up — a boon which could hardly 

 fail to be appreciated by his tenant. ... A portion, however, being laid pretty 

 well to all the adjacent farms, they supply a quantity of nseful meadoiv-hay, 

 luithout cost of manure to the farmers, and are, therefore, very properly regarded 

 as a valuable adjunct to the farms." 



" A quantity of useful meadow hay (and scanty innutritious 

 pasture might have been added), without cost of manure to the 

 farmers ! !" is intended to describe all the grass-land of a parti- 

 cular locality, except first-rate pastures. Might not the remark 

 apply to the majority of the second-rate and inferior grass of the 

 three kingdoms? I fear it might. 



The relative worthlessness of this "meadow hay, without cost 

 of manure," contrasts strikingly with the costly manuring and 

 enormous crops of good hay obtained by Mr. Horsfall, and de- 

 scribed in the same number of the Journal. Mr. Horsfall 

 says : — 



" I reside on the borders of a district in Yorkshire, over which you may 

 travel 50 or 60 miles without seeino:, except here and there, an isolated patch 

 in tillage ; and I am enabled to state from observation that in this extensive 

 tract of permanent grass the occupiers depend almost wholly on the excrement 

 of their cattle for maintaining the fertility of their land." 



All the land being in grass, the farmers have no other use for 

 their dung. If they possessed any arable land, the grass would 

 probably fare much worse. 



Mr. Horsfall informs me that he applies twelve to fourteen 

 loads of manure per acre, and his paper shows that he applies 

 2 cwt. of guano in addition. Does this pay? We will see. 



* R. A. S. Journal, Vol. xviii., p. 17. 



R 2 



