IIORTUS (JRAMINliUS WOBURNENSIS. 219 



From the foregoing series of facts and observations, re- 

 specting the different grasses and other plants which compose 

 the produce of dry upland pastures, it may fairly be inferred, 

 that these plants are not susceptible of that degree of im- 

 provement by cultivation which would fit them for the 

 support of the larger domestic animals. Sheep may be 

 considered the only stock that can be profitably maintained 

 on such pastures. Still, however, their natural state may 

 be much improved by frequent top-dressings with manure or 

 compost, and, at the same time, by sowing the seeds of the 

 grasses which will be mentioned hereafter. The roller 

 should be often used ; the inferior grasses should not be 

 suffered to perfect or shed their seeds ; and the pasture 

 should be closely cropped. By persevering in this mode of 

 treatment, a superior pasture would soon be obtained. 



But these improvements, effected on poor siliceous sandy 

 pastures by the above treatment, will be found only tempo- 

 rary ; and, as soon as the means are suspended, the pasture 

 will return again to its former inferior state; this kind of 

 soil being of a nature that soon exhausts the manure applied 

 to it, whether on the surface as a top-dressing, or when 

 ploughed in the land. It will be found absolutely necessary 

 to change first the nature of the soil, by the application of 

 clay or marl ; and the superior grasses will then keep pos- 

 session of the soil, even under indifferent management. 

 There will be much less occasion for manure, and the quan- 

 tity applied will have double the effect. The land, by this 

 means, is improved permanently. It is much to be 

 lamented, that pastures of this nature are often broken up, 

 undergo a course of crops, and are again returned to grass, 

 without any change being made in the nature of the soil. 

 If marl be often out of reach, clay seldom is, as this earth 

 is generally found under sand, or in its neighbourhood. 

 Before clay, marl, or any ingredient that effects a permanent 

 change in the nature of a soil, be applied, the nature of the 

 soil, and the ingredient, should first be ascertained by che- 

 mical analysis ; and the exact quantity of the ingredient 

 necessary to effect the desired change in the nature of the 

 soil, will by this be accurately determined. Without this, 



