PASTORAL STAFF 



PASTURE 



797 



16th century, some of the most notable names being 

 Gil Vicente, Jorge <le Montemayor (Diana, 1524), 

 anil Cervantes (Galatea, a pastoral romance, 1584). 

 In France we already Kml Remy Belleau's mis- 

 cellany, La Bergerie (1565), ami the writing of 

 pastorals was practised long after even by the 

 great Kichelieu. After Honore d'Urfe's Attrtt 

 (1610), came a long succession of lengthy pastoral 

 romances by Mdlle. de Scudery, La Calprenede, 

 ami Gomberville. In England we had already 

 had Alexander Barclay's translations of Baptist 

 Mantuan, and Barnahy Googe's Eglogs, /<}/- 

 taphes, and Sonnettes (1563), before the twelve 

 charming eclogues composing Spenser's S/ie/>lien/'.i 

 Calendar (1579) formed once for all a faultless 

 model for posterity. The poem is appropriately 

 dedicated to Sir Philip Sidney, whose pastoral 

 romance of Arcadia outstrips in point of literary 

 beauty all other fictions of that class. Its suc- 

 cessor* were Koliert Greene's Moraiulo (1584) 

 and Menajitton (1589), Lyly's Gallathea (1584), 

 Peele's Arraignment of Paris (1584), and, most 

 famous of all, Lodge's Kusalynde ( 1590). Spenser's 

 poetical idealisation of pastoral life, again, pave 

 rich inspiration to Drayton, Daniel, Barnlield, 

 Marlowe, Nicholas Breton, Wither, William 

 Browne, Herrick, Ben Jonson (Sad Shepherd), 

 and Fletcher (Faithful Shepherdess, 1610, the 

 finest of all pastoral plays). An 18th-century 

 revival gave us the pastorals of Ambrose Philips 

 and of Pope, and awakened a pretty quarrel 

 between the two ill-matched champions ; Gay's 

 Shepherds Week was much letter poetry than 

 either, and was brightened by honest liumonr and 

 glimpses of genuine country life. An imitator, 

 Allan Ramsay, also achieved a success in his 

 Gentle Shepherd, which is almost as good as Gay, 

 though far behind Spenser. 



Pastoral Staff, often also, although not 

 properly, called Crosier (q.v.), one of the insignia 

 of the episcopal oflice, sometimes 

 also borne by an abbot. It is a 

 tall stall' of metal, or of wood 

 ornamented with metal, having, 

 at least in the Western Church, 

 the head curved in the form of a 

 shepherd's crook, as a symbol of 

 the pastoral office. From an early 

 time the pastoral staff was con- 

 nected witn the actual possession 

 of the jurisdiction which it symbol- 

 ises. The giving of it was one of 

 the ceremonies of investiture ; its 

 withdrawal was part of the form 

 of deprivation ; its voluntary aban- 

 donment accompanied the act of 

 resignation ; its being broken was 

 the most solemn form of degrada- 

 tion. We annex as a specimen of 

 the highest art the pastoral staff 

 of William of Wykeham, now pre- 

 served in his 'foundation, New 

 College, Oxford. A very early 

 form of the pastoral stall" is repre- 

 sented at FILLAN (ST). 



1'sistoral Theology, that 

 branch of theological science which regards the 

 duties and obligations of pastors in relation to 

 the care of souls. 



Pasture. A pasture may be defined as a crop 

 of mixed grasses and clovers, or other leguminous 

 plants, intended for purposes of grazing. Such a 

 crop usually occupies the land for many years, and 

 is then called permanent pasture. The chief bene- 

 fit accruing to the farmer is that the mixed plant* 

 occupy the land more completely than the same 

 constituents grown iii separate plots. Tli <"">"= 



Pastoral Staff. 



The various 



species of the mixture overlap and foster one 

 another ; thus produce is increased, and quality of 

 herbage improved. From this point of view, a 

 pasture is an agricultural device for increasing the 

 amount of land at disposal, since from a single 

 acre of mixed crop as much produce may be 

 obtained as from, say, 1J acre laid down under 

 pure sowings. 



The chief plants used in Britain for forming 

 pasture may be classified thus : 



(A) Top Grasses. Cock's-foot (Dactylis glo- 

 merata). Meadow Fescue (Festiica pratensis), 

 Meadow Fox-tail (Alopecunis pratensis), Timothy 

 (Plileum pratense), Italian Ryegrass (Loiimn 

 italicum). 



(B) Bottom Grasses. Crested Dog's tail (Cyno- 

 snrus cristatiis), Fiorin (Agrostis stolonifcra), 

 Hard Fescue (Festiica duriuscula), Rough-stalked 

 Meadow Grass (Poa trivialis). Smooth-stalked 

 Meadow Grass (Poa pratensis). Wood Meadow 

 Grass (Poa nemoralis), Sweet Vernal (Aiithox- 

 anthum odorutitm). Yellow Oat-grass (Avenct 

 Jlavescens), Perennial Ryegrass (Loiimn perante). 



(C) Clovers and Leguminous Plants. Alsike 

 Clover (Trifoliiim hybrid inn), Red Clover (Tri- 

 Mium pratense), White Clover ( Trifoliiim renews), 

 Trefoil (Medicago liipidina), Bird's-foot Trefoil 

 ( Lutiis coniiculatits). 



This list includes several species which are not 

 permanent, but of short duration, as Timothy, 

 Italian and perennial, ryegrass, red and Alsiice 

 clover, and trefoil. Timothy lasts from four to 

 six years, and at times even longer. Perennial 

 ryegrass hits a very misleading name, inasmuch 

 as it may die out in three or four years ; in other 

 cases, where seeding is prevented, the ryegrass 

 mav become, to all intents and purposes, a peren- 

 nial plant. The reasons for including short-lived 

 constituents in permanent pasture are obvious. 

 They not only give increased produce during the 

 first years of the lea, when the permanent species 

 are slow in coming forward, but hold possession 

 of land which would otherwise be bare, and thus 

 keep out worthless plants. Place is made for the 

 expanding perennials by the short-lived species 

 which gradually die out. This must be carefully 

 borne in mind when fixing the proportion of short- 

 lived plants in a mixture. 



The following are the leading principles accord- 

 ing to which the various constituents of a mixture 

 arc proportioned : ( 1 ) To obtain maximum produce, 

 the land must be filled with roots as thoroughly 

 and completely as possible. This is accomplished 

 by incorporating deep-rooted and shallow-rooted 

 plants in due proportions. If, for example, a soil 

 is 3 feet deep, and the roots occupy merely 1 foot 

 of this depth, two-thirds of the land is, evidently, 

 lying idle and unutilised, not for one year, as 

 when under an ordinary crop, but for a long series 

 of years in the case of a permanent pasture. 



(2) The nutritive value of the mixed herbage 

 depends upon the relative proportion of grass and 

 clover : the albuminoid ratio increases with the 

 amount of clover. For a permanent pasture good 

 proportions are clovers, 20 to 30 per cent, of total 

 area ; grasses, 70 to 80 per cent. 



( 3 ) As many species as possible should be repre- 

 sented in the mixture. If one is injuriously 

 affected by drought, another, which revels in 

 drought, is ready to take its place ; if one is late, 

 another is early ; if one is not relished by the 

 browsing animal, another is, and so on. 



(4) Those species which are best and most suit- 

 able for the soil should be most largely represented. 



(5) Certain species liable to overrun the pasture, 

 or to destroy other good plants, ought to be repre- 

 sented in extremely small proportions. This 

 applies more particularly to rjegrasses (especially 



