362 TREATMENT OF PASTURES. 



any means unfrequent, where it is both practicable and 

 desirable to take other methods of improvements for 

 pasture and grass lands. 



The idea was formerly entertained that pasture lands 

 were sufficiently enriched by the animals which fed 

 them. Practical men begin to think otherwise ; for it 

 is found that a profitable return is made for the little 

 outlay which they require. Particularly is this the case 

 with pastures fed by milch cows. They do not return 

 the essential elements of the plant to the ground in so 

 large a proportion to what they take from it as some 

 other animals. These elements are required in great 

 quantities to form their milk, while in other animals 

 they are required only to form bone and muscle. The 

 manure made by cows is, therefore, less valuable and 

 fertilizing than that of some other animals. The con- 

 sequence is, that lands fed wholly by cows are exhausted 

 sooner than those fed by other animals. For it is evi- 

 dent that where more is taken from the soil than is 

 returned, exhaustion must follow. 



We furnish animal and vegetable matters to the earth 

 to supply it with substances which the growth of plants 

 has taken from it. It will be obvious, on a moment's 

 reflection, that the constituent parts of the plant are 

 taken up from the earth and the air, in somewhat the 

 same manner as our food and drink become our bone and 

 flesh. The analogy is still more distinct when we reflect 

 that all our applications for the improvement of the soil 

 are nothing more than the supply of food for plants. 

 For the food of plants is found in all manures, and the 

 value of these depends upon the quantity they contain. 



The methods of renovating mowing and pasture lands 

 by means of top-dressings do not essentially differ. An 

 interesting experiment fell under my observation not 

 long ago, where common meadow mud, rich barn and 



