334 HORTUS GRAMINEUS WOBURNENSIS. 



the land for these crops, the scarifier should be frequently 

 employed instead of the plough, as the frequent turning up of 

 such soils becomes more injurious than beneficial. 



From the foregoing series of facts and observations, respecting 

 the different grasses and other plants which compose the produce 

 of dry upland pastures, it may fairly be inferred, that these plants 

 are not susceptible of that degree of improvement by cultivation 

 which would fit them for the support of the larger domestic 

 animals. Sheep may be considered the only stock that can be 

 profitably maintained on such pastures. Still, however, their 

 natural state may be much improved by frequent top-dressings 

 with manure or compost, and, at the same time, by sowing the 

 seeds of the grasses which will be mentioned hereafter. The 

 roller should be often used ; the inferior grasses should not be 

 suffered to perfect or shed their seeds ; and the pasture should be 

 closely cropped. By persevering in this mode of treatment, a 

 superior pasture would soon be obtained. 



But these improvements, effected on poor siliceous sandy 

 pastures, by the above treatment, will be found only temporary ; 

 and that, as soon as the means are suspended, the pasture will 

 return again to its former inferior state ; this kind of soil being of 

 a nature that soon exhausts the manure applied to it, whether on 

 the surface as a top-dressing, or when ploughed in the land. It 

 will be found absolutely necessary to change first the nature of 

 the soil, by the application of clay or marl ; and the superior 

 grasses will then keep possession of the soil, even under indifferent 

 management. There will be much less occasion for manure, and 

 the quantity applied will have double the effect. The land, by 

 this means, is improved permanently. It is much to be lamented, 

 that pastures of this nature are often broken up, undergo a course 

 of crops, and are again returned to grass, without any change 

 being made in the nature of the soil. If marl be often out of 

 reach, clay seldom is, as this earth is generally found under sand, 

 or in its neighbourhood. Before clay, marl, or any ingredient 

 that effects a permanent change in the nature of a soil, be applied, 

 the nature of the soil, and the ingredient, should first be ascer- 

 tained by chemical analysis. And the exact quantity of the 

 ingredient necessary to effect the desired change in the nature of 

 the soil, will by this be accurately determined. Without this, 

 the operation will be performed in the dark, and consequently 

 with less certain success. If the reader will look back to the 



