MANAGEMENT OF PASTURES. 75 



Cost of Seed. The cost of grass seed for various mixtures 

 is very often given a place of too much importance in decid- 

 ing upon the mixtures to be used. If one mixture cost 10s. 

 per acre and another cost 20s. per acre, the resultant feed 

 does not need to be double as good in the latter case to pay 

 for the extra expenditure. The cost of clearing or cultivat- 

 ing, the cost of fencing and maintenance, the rents or interest 

 and the rates and taxes remain the same whether a good sole 

 of grass or a bad one is secured. Let us take an instance 

 from agricultural land valued at 30 per acre. There the cost 

 of a crop of grass to last four years is roughly as follows : 



{, s. d. 



Rent or interest, 4 years, at 30s. per acre 6 10 

 Taxes, rates, etc., 4 years, at 6s. 140 



Maintenance hedges and ditches, etc. at Is. 040 

 Cultivation and sowing, say* 060 



Seed 10 



Total 8 14 



Now suppose the seed cost 20s. instead of 10s. the cost 

 of the crop will be 9 4s., that is an increase under 6 per 

 cent. Thus, though the increased cost of seed is 100 per 

 cent, the increased cost of the crop is only 6 per cent., and 

 it must be a poor selection of grasses that will not, for double 

 the money, yield 6 per cent, more feed. It is from this point 

 of view that one should not hesitate to use good varieties, 

 good seed, and sufficient of it, when laying land down to 

 grass even for a short ley. For permanent pasture the 

 argument is infinitely more cogent. 



Weight of Seed. Grass seeds vary greatly in the 

 number of seeds that go to a pound as well as in their 

 average germination capacity. Thus the amount of seed 

 required to sow an acre varies greatly also. 



* Most of the cost of cultivation will be debited against the 

 crop (oats, rape, etc.) with which the grass is sown. 



