HORTUS GRAMINEUS WOBURNENSIS. 253 



pared should be divided into three parts, to correspond to the 

 three different combinations of the essential grasses ; which com- 

 binations were shewn, at page 38, to ripen their seeds respectively 

 at three different periods of the season. The seeds of the dif- 

 ferent species recommended above should be mixed in the pro- 

 portions stated, and each of the three combinations, or mixtures 

 of seed, sown on the division of ground set apart for it. The 

 seeds may either be sown broad-cast or in drills ; whichever mode 

 will deposit the seed in the most regular manner is the best, for 

 the clean state of the tilth will render weeding the first year 

 unnecessary, and the combination or mixture of different species 

 of the superior grasses will afterwards so fully occupy the land as 

 to prevent the intrusion of weeds or of less valuable plants. The 

 seeds of clover, yarrow, and of the bush vetch, can be had from 

 the seedsman. As soon as the plants of grasses have come up, 

 the surface of the land should be occasionally rolled, as the 

 plants thereby sooner establish themselves firmly in the ground, 

 and make more vigorous and rapid growth, than when the surface 

 is less firm and consolidated. In the end of autumn, or early in 

 the spring, a top-dressing of rotten dung, or finely-pulverized 

 compost, should be applied to the seedling grasses, in such a 

 manner as to prevent the necessity of bush-harrowing for the first 

 year ; a handy workman with a shovel can spread the compost 

 regularly and finely among the plants. The use of the roller 

 should not be neglected, on every favourable opportunity of dry 

 weather. As soon as the seeds are ripe, which may be known by 

 passing a spike or panicle between the fingers, advantage should 

 be taken of favourable weather to mow the grass, laying it in thin 

 swaths, and carefully turning it as often as necessary until the 

 crop is sufficiently dry to thresh out ; which operation must be 

 effected as soon as possible, either on the spot or in the barn, as 

 the circumstances of weather and convenience may appear to the 

 intelligent Farmer most to require. 



By the ordinary practice of returning such soils to permanent 

 pasture, disappointment is sure to follow ; and to attempt to form 

 a valuable permanent sward on soils not adapted to the growth of 

 these grasses, were equally unwise ; though, if the subsoil be 

 favourable, the land may be so much improved, at a moderate 

 expense, by the means recommended at pages 124 and 125, as to 

 fit it for the growth of the best grasses. 



