2l4 THE PRINCIPLES OF 



by a little observation. Notice what naturally happens in 

 the case of heaps made from pond-cleanings or ditch-bottoms 

 recently cleared out. Here we find a quantity of rich stuff, 

 and we may notice how rapidly such heaps become covered 

 with a thick rich sole of grass. I have seen it very fre- 

 quently. Here we have the best conditions for growing 

 grass; we have richness, and without even sowing seeds it 

 is extraordinary how those heaps of dirt have become covered 

 with everything that we could wish for in the form of grassy 

 sward. But the amount of richness, or of available plant 

 food, and of nitrogen, is so great that it would be impossible 

 to add it in similar quantities to large tracts of land. It would 

 be altogether beyond us to attempt to confer that same amount 

 of richness on fifty, or one hundred acres of ordinary arable 

 land. All we can do is by bringing the ground into as rich 

 a state as possible to encourage the matting of the grass and 

 the formation of a close sole. 



The next point is autumn sowing, and sowing without a 

 crop. Sowing the seed upon land rich from previous 

 management ; sowing without an exhausting crop accom- 

 panying the grass seeds; and sowing in the early half of 

 August. These conditions are likely to insure what we 

 require. We must not be alarmed if weeds come up in such 

 abundance with the grass seeds, that we are almost tempted 

 to think our grass seeds are going to be smothered with 

 chick weed, ground ivy, charlock, and other sorts of vegetable 

 rubbish. I have seen it often, and have been even inclined 

 to plough up the ground again ; but it is wonderful how the 

 grass will gradually assert itself, and these annual weeds 

 they are nothing more die away and disappear. These 

 arable land weeds require a finer tilth than they now have at 

 their disposal, and the consequence is that the entire gener- 

 ation of annual plants dies away, and the grasses take their 

 place. 



