183S] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



661 



can be easily procured, the application of it to 

 pasture is repaid bj' ilic increase of crop; but lop- 

 dressinji <rrass land with animal or vc<j;ctable ma- 

 nure cannot be recommended as a general system. 

 Dr. Coventry very justly observes, tiiat there is a 

 greater waste o( the manure in this case liian 

 when it is ploughed into the soil ibr seed crops. 

 The loss by expo^^nre to the air and the sunshme 

 oH'ers reasons, in addition to those that have been 

 already (juoted in the sixtli lecture, (or the appli- 

 cation of manure, even in this case, in a slate ol' 

 incipient and not completed lermentation. 



Very little attention has been paid to the nature 

 of the srrasses best adapted for permanent pasture. 

 The chief circumstance which gives value to a 

 grass is the quantity of nutritive matter that the 

 whole crop wiH afford; but the time and duration 

 of its produce are likewise points of great impor- 

 tance; and a grass that supplies green nutriment 

 throughout the whole of the year may be more 

 valuable than a grass which yields its produce 

 only in summer, though the whole quantity ol 

 Ibod supplied by it should be much less. 



The grasses that propagate themselves by 

 layers, the different species of agrostis, supply 

 pasture throughout the year; and, as it has been 

 mentioned on a former occasion, the concrete sap 

 stored up in theirjoinfs renders them a good food 

 even in winter. I saw four square yards of fiorin 

 grass cut in the end of January, this year, in a 

 meadow exclusively appropriated to the cultivation 

 of fiorin, by the Countess of JHardwicke, the soil 

 ol" which is a damp stiff clay. They aff'orded 28 

 pounds of Ibdder; of which 1000 parts afforded 

 64 parts of nutritive matter, consisting nearly of 

 one-sixth of sugar, and five-sixths of mucilage, 

 with a little extractive matter. In another experi- 

 ment, four square yards gave 27 pounds of grass. 

 The quality of this grass is inferior to that of the 

 fiorin referred to in the table, in the latter part of 

 the third lecture, which was cultivated by Sir Jo- 

 seph Banks in Middlesex, in a much richer soil, 

 and cut in December. 



The fiorin grass, to be in perfection, requires a 

 moist climate or a wet soil; and it grows luxuriant- 

 ly in cold clays unfitted for other grasses. In light 

 sands and in dry situations its produce is much in- 

 ferior as to quantity and quality. 



The common grasses, properly so called, that 

 afford most nutritive matter in early spring, are 

 the vernal meadow grass and meadow fox-tail 

 grass; but their produce, at the time of flowering 

 and ripening the seed, is inferior to that of a great 

 number of other grasses; their latter-math is, how- 

 ever, abundant. 



Tall fescue grass stands highest, according to 

 the experiments of the Duke of Bedford, of any 

 grass properly so called, as to the quantity of nu- 

 tritive matter afforded by the whole crop when 

 cut at the time of flowering; and meadow cat's- 

 tail grass affords most food when cut at the time 

 the seed is ripe: the highest latier-math produce 

 of the grasses examined in the Duke of Bedford's 

 experiments is from the eea-meadow grass. 



Nature has provided in all permanent pastures 

 a mixture of various grasses, the produce of which 

 differs at different seasons. Where pastures are 

 to be made artificially, such a mixture ought to be 

 imitated; and, perhaps, pastures superior to the 

 natural ones may be made by selecting due pro- 

 portions of those species of grasses fitted for the 



soil which afford respectively the greatest quanti- 

 ties of spring, summer, latter-niaih, and winter 

 produce. A reli^rencc to the details in the appen- 

 dix will show that such a plan of cultivation is 

 very practicable. 



The propagation of grasses by layers has lately 

 given rise to a considerable improvement in the 

 formation of pasture, by what has been called in- 

 occulation. A certain portion of old pasture is re- 

 moved with the roots of the grasses and a part of 

 the soil, and planted (as it were) in arable land at 

 certain intervals. By the spreading of the layers, 

 a surface of grasses is speedily formed; and the 

 old pasture, if too much of it be not removed, soon 

 recovers itself, in consequence of the operation of 

 the same principle. This improvement has arisen 

 in the same place where a<;riculture has so long 

 been an object of unremitted and patriotic exer- 

 tions. Mr. Coke's steward i« the author. 



In all lands, whether arable or pasture, weeds, 

 of every description, should be rooted out before 

 the seed is ripe; and if they are suffered to remain 

 in hedge-rows, they should be cut when in flower, 

 or before, and made into heaps for manure: in 

 this case they will furnish more nutritive matter 

 in their decomposition; and their increase by the 

 dispersion of seeds will be prevented. The farm- 

 er, who suffers weeds to remain till their ripe seeds 

 are shed, and scattered by the winds, is not only 

 hostile to his own interests, but is likewise an ene- 

 my to the public: a few thistles neglected soon 

 will stock a farm; and by the light down which is 

 attached to their seeds, they may be distributed 

 over a whole country. Nature has provided such 

 ample resources for the continuance of even the 

 meanest vegetable tribes, that it is very difficult to 

 ensure the destruction of such as are hostile to the 

 agriculturist, even with every precaution. Seeds 

 excluded fi-om the air will remain for years inactive 

 in the soil*, and yet germinate under favorable 

 circumstances ; and the different plants, the seeds 

 of which, like those of the thistle and dandelion, 

 are furnished with beards or wings, may be 

 brought from an immense distance. The flea- 

 bane of Canada has only lately been found in Eu- 

 rope ; and Linnsus supposes that it has been 

 transported from America, by the very light 

 downy plumes with which the seed is provided. 



In feeding cattle with green food, there are 

 many advantages in soiling, or supplying them 

 with food, where their manure is preserved, out of 

 the field : the plants are less injured when cut than 

 when torn or jagged by the teeth of the cattle, and 

 no food is wasted by being trodden down. They 

 are likewise obliged to feed without making a se- 

 lection ; and in consequence the whole food is con- 



* The appearance of seeds in places where their 

 parent plants are not found may be easify accounted 

 ibr from this circumstance, and other circumstances. 

 Many seeds are carried from island to island by cur- 

 rents in the sea, and are defended by their hard coats 

 from the immediate action of the water. West Indian 

 seeds (of this description) are often found on our 

 coasts, and readily germinate ; their long voyage hav- 

 ing been barely sufficient to afford the cotyledon its 

 due proportion of moisture. Other seeds are carried 

 indigested in the stomach of birds, and supplied with 

 food at the moment of their deposition. The light 

 seeds of the mosses and lichens probably float in eve- 

 ry part of the atmosphere, and abound on the surface 

 of the sea. 



