PAS 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



PAS 



257 







it must be constantly dressed, or the ground will be soon 

 exhausted. Of late years there has been an emulation, espe- 

 cially among gentlemen, to improve their pastures, by sowing 

 several sorts of grass-seeds ; and there have been some per- 

 sons, of little skill in these matters, who have imposed on 

 many ignorant people, by selling them seeds of some foreign 

 grass, recommending them for some particular quality; by 

 trying which, they have found them to be of little value, and, 

 after losing a season or two, have had their work to begin 

 again. On this account, it is dangerous to trust those who, 

 upon slight experiments, have ventured to recommend without 

 judgment; for of all the sorts of grass-seeds which have been 

 brought from America, none have been found equal to the 

 Common Poa Grass, either for duration or verdure. It grows 

 naturally in England, and, with about six or seven other 

 sorts, is the best worth cultivating, although the trouble of 

 collecting the seeds in any quantity is so great as to deter 

 most persons from attempting it; while those who purchase 

 hay-seeds, find them so mixed with the seeds of weeds, that 

 they have been compelled to adopt the plan ?>Ir. Miller recom- 

 mends, that of sowing only the White Dutch Clover seeds, 

 and waiting for the natural grass coming up amongst it; which 

 method has generally succeeded better than by sowing hay- 

 seed with it; for if the pasture be duly weeded, rolled, and 

 dressed, all bad weeds maybe destroyed, and a fine durable 

 turf obtained: whereas, the Burnet, and many other plants 

 which have been extolled as good winter food, being of short 

 duration, are very improper for improving land ; nor are 

 there two better plants yet known for the purpose of fodder, 

 than the Lucern and Sainfoin ; for where these are sown 

 upon proper soils, and duly cultivated, they will produce a 

 much greater quantity of food, than can be procured from 

 the same quantity of land, sown with any other abiding plant. 

 The following are the directions of Mr. iStillingfleet, for 

 laying down land to grass : Plough the land in March as deep 

 as the nature of the soil will admit ; harrow when the weeds 

 are about flowering, namely, some time in May, or sooner, 

 if it be a forward spring ; plough ten days after harrowing ; 

 harrow when the weeds come up again ; if any dung or com- 

 post be prepared for the land, let it be laid on ; plough at 

 this time, and plough it in a moderate depth immediately, so 

 that the teeth of the harrow after rolling may reach it ; roll 

 the land down every day as it is ploughed with a light roller, 

 and observe not to spread the dung long before it is ploughed 

 in ; harrow well when the weeds produced by the dung ap- 

 pear, so as to bring the dung up, and mix it wiih the soil ; 

 observing not to harrow more at once than can be ploughed 

 in one day ; plough it up after the harrows the same depth 

 as before, and follow the plough with a roller. The land 

 will now lie under the proper preparation for the seeds, 

 which may be sown after the first soaking rain, from the end 

 of August to the end of September, in the following manner. 

 Plough the laud about the same depth as before ; harrow it 

 once in a place, and sow the seeds after the harrow ; then, 

 with a hurdle bushed with black-thorn bushes, harrow the 

 seeds in ; when the plants appear, roll the land with a light 

 roller, and not before, except the weather prove very dry, in 

 which case' it will be necessary to roll it with a very light 

 roller after the bush-harrow ; a light dressing of good manure 

 laid on with the first frost, will be of great use in preserv- 

 ing the grass the first season, and encouraging its growth 

 afterwards ; and a light roller used after every frost will be 

 of great service in the first winter. In Yorkshire, there are 

 three modes of sowing grass-seeds : the first in August ; the 

 second and most common, with barley ; and the third upon 

 heat in March. The first is the best, and the last the worst. 



They sow ten bushels to the acre, four pounds of Hop Tre- 

 foil, Black Nonesuch, Medicago Lupulina, or White Clover, 

 and some persons add two pounds of Ray-grass. After the 

 crop is cut, suffer no cattle to enter till next hay-harvest, 

 when the grass may be either cut or fed ; but there is danger 

 from the cattle in the last way. The farmers generally mow 

 the first crop for the sake of seeds, because that affords more 

 than the succeeding ones. If sown with barley, roll as soon 

 as the barley is off the ground, and lay on dung after the first 

 crop of grass is mowed. The decided'superiority of the Mid- 

 dlesex farmers in the art of hay-making, has been acknow- 

 ledged by all who make any pretensions to agricultural skill. 

 They reduce it to a regular system, unknown in other parts 

 of the kingdom. When the grass is about to be mown, the 

 farmer engages a certain number of persons for that work, 

 according to the extent of his lands. At the same time he 

 provides five hay-makers to each mower, who are paid by the 

 day. On the first day all the grass mown before nine o'clock 

 is tedded; in which operation great care is taken to shake it 

 out well, and strew it evenly over the ground. After this, it 

 is turned once or twice with similar care; and in the course 

 of the afternoon, is raked into what is called single wind- 

 rows, and towards the evening is put into grass-cocks. On 

 the second day, the business commences by tedding all the 

 grass mown on the first day after nine o'clock, and on this 

 day before nine o'clock. Next, the grass-cocks are well shaken 

 out into separate plats, called staddles, of five or six yards 

 diameter ; the staddles are next turned, and after that is done, 

 tlie grass tedded in the morning is turned once or twice in 

 the manner above described, for the first day. After dinner 

 the staddles are formed into double wind-rows ; the grass is 

 next raked into single wind-rows ; then the double wind-rows 

 are put into bastard cocks ; and lastly, the single wind-rows 

 are put into grass-cocks. On the third day, the grass mown 

 and not spread on the second day, and that also mown in 

 the early part of this day, is first tedded in the morning, and 

 the grass-cocks are spread into staddles, as before, and then 

 the bastard-cocks into staddles of less extent. These lesser 

 staddles, though last spread, are first turned, then those that 

 were in the grass-cocks, and lastly the grass once or twice ; 

 after which, the people go to dinner. Should the weather 

 prove fine, the hay which was in bastard-cocks the pre- 

 ceding night, will this afternoon be in a proper state to be 

 carried, but not if the weather has been cloudy and cool. In 

 the latter case, the first operation after dinner is to rake the 

 grass-cocks of the last night into double wind-rows, and the 

 grass which was this morning spread from swaths into single 

 wind-rows. Afterwards, the bastard-cocks of the last night 

 are made up into full-sized cocks, and care taken to rake 

 the hay up clean, and also to put the rakings upon the top of 

 each cock. Next, the double wind-rows are put into bastard- 

 cocks, and the single wind-rows into grass-cocks, as on the 

 preceding days. On the fourth day the great cocks are 

 usually carried before dinner. The other operations of the 

 day are conducted in the same routine as those already 

 described, and so on daily till the harvest is finished. The 

 manner and period of applying the manure, are studied by 

 the Middlesex farmers with the greatest attention. They 

 observe the state of the atmosphere, and should it indicate 

 rain after the hay is removed from the ground, they put the 

 dung of neat cattle upon it. Should the barometer however 

 not promise rain in considerable quantities, the decomposed 

 manure is allowed to remain on the dunghills till the end of 

 September, at which time it is put on while the ground is 

 dry enough to bear the loaded carts without injury. Mea- 

 dow land, in the occupation of cow-keepers, is usually mown 



