512 THE HOME, FARM AND BUSINESS CYCLOPEDIA. 



(9) IT IS A CONTINUAL SOURCE OF RELIANCE AND WEALTH. 



Most other things may fail during a particular season, times may be 

 bad, and disease decimate the farm, yet the permanent pasture will smile 

 and invite a share of its wealth. 



(10) IT IS PERMANENT- 



The successful establishment and maintenance of permanent pasture 

 implies : 



1. A soil free of dead water. 



2. A rich surface, friable but firm, 



3. Depth of soil to allow roots beyond reach of drought. 



4. A retentive soil to resist drought and hold moisture. 



5. Securing variety of grasses and clovers and thick seeding. 



6. Easy pasturing for first two seasons. 



7. Heavy stocking, to keep down rougher plants. 



8. Top-dressing, at least every third year. 



But more specifically on such an important subject, clay lands tend ra- 

 ther to be selected for the growth of grass, because of the burden of 

 labour cost which in their case attends arable cultivation. And for the 

 same reason the increasing cost of labour the whole area of pasture 

 land in England, for example, is gradually and has been of late years even 

 rapidly increasing. But lands of all kinds, chalky, sandy, loamy, clayey ; 

 all furnish their contingent to the pasture area of the country. It is a 

 great advantage to all farms of whatever soil to have a certain proportion 

 of permanent pasture. 



The value of the annual produce depends on the quality of the soil and 

 the management of the crop. Pastures are indeed quite as amenable to 

 treatment as ploughed fields. Continuous manuring of any one kind 

 rapidly changes the character of the grasses and other plants covering the 

 ground. Continuous mowing or continuous depasturing, continuous 

 treatment of any kind indeed, favouring as it does one set of plants rather 

 than another, ultimately gives them the advantage in the perpetual con- 

 test of growth which is maintained among them, and the result is soon 

 visible in the altered character of the vegetation. 



It is of course on the presence of the better and more nutritious grasses 

 and clovers and the fitness of the soil and circumstances to luxuriant 

 growth that the value of any pasture depends ; and the composition of a 



