FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 



The possible improvement of pastures by means of 

 drainage is only limited by the opportunity furnished for 

 making the drainage complete. The following are some of 

 the benefits that accrue from it: (i) Drainage alone may 

 completely change the character of the production, the 

 change being from grass less valuable to that more valu- 

 able, because of increased growth, higher palatability and 

 superior nutrition; (2) it may prolong the season of pas- 

 turing more or less each year; (3) the harbor for parasites, 

 so prejudicial to the sheep industry where stagnant water 

 abounds is so far removed; (4) the injury from poaching 

 is reduced, if not entirely obviated. The methods of drain- 

 ing will not be discussed here, but it should be added that 

 the benefits accruing from draining the wet places in pas- 

 tures are usually far beyond the cost of the work. 



But little attention has been given to the improvement 

 of pastures on this continent through the medium of ferti- 

 lization, owing largely, it would seem, to an extensively pre- 

 vailing idea that more profit will result from applying fer- 

 tilizer to other crops. The idea would not seem to be well 

 grounded, especially where temporary pastures are grown. 

 Dressings of farmyard manures and also of commercial 

 fertilizers stimulate growth in the roots as well as in the 

 leaves and stems, consequently when the pastures are bro- 

 ken up the humus in the soil is proportionately increased. 

 Farmyard manures also act as a mulch, and the fresher and 

 more bulky the manure and the more of it applied up to a 

 certain limit, the more beneficial will be the result to the 

 pasture. A threefold benefit results from applying farmyard 

 manure thus. The wisdom of aiming to apply as large a 

 proportion of the fertilizer as can be made available to 

 pastures is to be commended. 



Grasses may in many instances be renewed in pastures 

 without breaking them up and resowing. This question is 

 discussed in the book on "Grasses" by the author (p. 392), 

 to which the reader is referred 



