i 4 4 COMMON WEEDS 



The Effect of Manures on Grass Land 



In laying down land to permanent pasture the greatest 

 possible care should be taken to ensure a clean pas- 

 ture to start with, and thereafter much care should be 

 continued with a view so to manage the pasture that 

 "weeds" worthless grasses and other plants shall 

 be kept down. Nearly 150 years ago Stillingfleet 

 wrote : " If a farmer wants to lay down his land to 

 grass, what does he do ? He either takes his seeds 

 indiscriminately from his own foul hay-rick or sends to 

 his neighbour for a supply of a mixture of all sorts of 

 rubbish. Arguments in support of ancient customs are 

 never wanted. Some say that if you manure your 

 ground properly good grasses will come of themselves. 

 So they will ; but how long may it be, and why be at 

 the expense of sowing what you must afterwards try to 

 kill by manuring, as is the case with seeds from the 

 hay-loft." Stillingfleet's indictment of farmers for sow- 

 ing bad seed is fortunately not so applicable at the 

 present day, but his indication of the effect of manuring 

 is still true. As he suggests, however, it is foolish to 

 commence with a bad weedy pasture, on which much 

 labour must be expended to get it into good condition. 



Where, however, a permanent grass field is found to 

 be in a weedy condition, much may usually be done to 

 remedy matters and to convert it into a creditable field. 

 Changes in manuring have a very great effect on the 

 percentage composition of the herbage, and this has 

 been conclusively demonstrated by experiment, while 

 many practical farmers have proved it frequently for 

 themselves. 



Rothamsted Experiments. In the Rothamsted experi- 

 ments upon grass land mown for hay every year since 



