198 EARLY MEADOWS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



greater cattle also. Moreover, the leaner and pendent places 

 must be assisted and refreshed with dung. Prudent husband- 

 men commonly lay more dung upon a hill than a valley, because, 

 as I said, the rains always carry the fatter matter down to the 

 lower grounds." 



" There is a measure to be observed in drying hay, that it be 

 put together neither over dry nor yet too green ; for, in the first 

 case, it is not a whit better than straw if it has lost its juice ; and, 

 in the other, it rots in the loft if it retains too much of it ; and 

 after it is grown hot it breeds fire, and sets all in a flame. They 

 do not put it up in mows, before that they suffer it to heat, and 

 concoct itself, and then grow cool, after having thrown it loosely 

 together for a few days/' 



Here in a few lines we get the ancient idea of selecting lands 

 for meadows, of drainage, of clearing out weeds, of keeping hogs 

 and cattle off from newly seeded land, of applying manure, of 

 storing hay, of spontaneous combustion. 



The First Meadows of Great Britain. It is not yet very 

 long since the first efforts were made to improve pastures in 

 Great Britain. 



la his Mystery of Husbandry Discovered and Laid Open, J. 

 Worlidge, in 1681, writes: " Eay grass, by which they improve 

 any cold, sour clay weeping lands which is unfit for sainfoin, 

 hath the precedence of all other grasses, these are lucerne, clover, 

 tares, spurry, and trefoil." This is the first mention made of 

 rye grass in cultivation, and for many years it was the only true 

 grass, the seeds of which were intentionally sown. Timothy 

 was introduced into England by the soldiers who returned from 

 this country in 1776. Orchard grass began to be sown about 

 the same time, and since then the number of varieties has stead- 

 ily increased. Some of the above, as well as the following, is 

 adapted from Gould: 



The making of artificial meadows began to receive attention 



