312 Cultivation of Arable Land. Laying d^tcri to Graft What neceffaryin. 



mended merely for their being relifhed by cattle, or for the fvvcetnefs of their foliage, 

 if they are found to be deficient in the quantity of produce, fully anfvver the views 

 of the farmer or grazier, as, to constitute a good meadow or pa ft u re, an abundant 

 produce is neceffary. Though animals prefer fome forts of food toothers, it is 

 not poffible to indulge the live flock that is to be fupported conftantly with the 

 fined: and moft delicate hay, or herbage. Bcfides, it is not improbable but that 

 the productive graffes may in fome cafes be highly nutritious, or that cattle may eat 

 as eagerly the herbage, or hay, made from the coarfe as the fine graffes. And cattle 

 are frequently known to thrive on food to which they are habituated by neceffity, 

 though at firft they could fcarcely be prevailed on to eat it. 



In making experiments, perfons are apt, he conceives, to conclude too haftily 

 from the appearance which a plant affumes on its being firft planted or fown ; as 

 the moft infignificant vegetable will often make a great (how, when its fibres have 

 frefti earth to moot into : but the trial comes when the object of the experiment 

 has been in a meadow or pafture fcveral years, when its fibres, from long growth, 

 are matted together, and it meets with powerful neighbours, to difpute every inch 

 of ground with it : if it then continues to be productive, it muft have merit. It is 

 \vell known, he fays, that lucern, when left to itfelf, is foon overpowered; and if 

 broad-leaved clover, which is undoubtedly a perennial, the firft year be fown, a great 

 crop is produced ; but let the field be left to itfelf, and the clover, like the lucern, 

 will yearly diminifti, not becaufe it is a biennial, as has been often fuppofed, but 

 becaufe plants hardier, or more congenial to the foil, ufurp its place: this (hows 

 therefore that at the fame time that a good plant is introduced, it (hould be a pow 

 erful one, and fuch as is able to keep poffeflion, and continue to be productive. 



In refpect to the property of cattle s thriving on the food they eat, it is unquef- 

 tionably of great co.ifequence; and it is to be regretted that our knowledge of the 

 moft nutrient kinds of herbage is fo confined ; but of thofe plants which have been 

 in cultivation we are enabled to fpeak with fome certainty : it is well known that 

 clover, lucern, fainfoin, tares, and feveral other plants, have a great tendency to 

 fatten cattle ; but what natural grafTcs, or other plants, which have not been fub- 

 jected to feparate culture, have this particular tendency, and in what degree, re 

 mains to be afcertained by the teft of experiment. But as leguminous plants are 

 in general found to agree with cattle, it maybe reafonably conciuded,he thinks, that 

 a certain quantity of them may be proper and advantageous in paftures. 



It is well known that certain paftures are more difpofed to fatten animals than 

 others ; but how far this depends on Situation, and their particular produce, re* 

 mains to be afcertained. 



