230 COMMON WEEDS 



use of the harrow, such treatment will effect a great 

 change and get rid of most of the Moss. 



Where Moss appears on pastures and meadows which 

 are known to be well drained, manurial treatment alone 

 should be resorted to. In the case of temporary pas- 

 tures, subsoiling will prove a useful measure when the 

 next arable crop is taken. Moss seldom appears on 

 arable land, but if so, similar remedial measures must 

 be followed. 



On thin pastures resting on a light loam, with chalk 

 not many inches below, at the South-Eastern Agricul- 

 tural College, Wye, Kent, a dense growth of Moss 

 appeared in winter, though there was no sourness, 

 deficient aeration, or great poverty of the soil. Experi- 

 ments made 1 to discover the best treatment showed that 

 in this case chemical treatment had on the whole little 

 or no effect, though superphosphate seemed to feed the 

 grass a little and keep the Moss down. On the other 

 hand, "the effects of the mechanical treatment are, 

 however, very manifest ; the continual rolling has been 

 as beneficial as the opening of the soil has been harm- 

 ful. Clearly, the prevalence of moss on this class of 

 land is associated with the open texture of the soil, in 

 which the worms work very freely, and continually lift 

 the surface ; constant rolling and harrowing, with the 

 treading of sheep, are the only ways of keeping the 

 moss down." 



Some experiments have been carried out by the West 

 of Scotland Agricultural College 2 on mossy land which, 

 after being drained, reclaimed, and cropped, had lain for 

 ten or twelve years under pasture, and the grass was 

 poor and innutritious. Three plots of over 3 acres each 



1 A. D. Hall,/<wr. S.E. Agric. Coll., No. 9, 1900. 



2 " Manuring of Moss Land " : Report of a Lecture by Professor R. 

 Patrick Wright, 1909. 



