On the Agriculture of England, Manures, ^c. 87 



mitted : they are gathered, threshed, cleaned, and kept 

 separate, and by this means we are m possession of 

 the best plants that have as yet claimed our attention ; 

 and those who are in the habit of attentive observation, 

 are acquainted with their different properties, except 

 the relative value of each in fattening cattle, a point 

 that has been too little considered, either here, or in 

 any other country, although there are some plants in- 

 finitely superior to others for that purpose. If those 

 Vi^ere known and cultivated separately, much less 

 ground would be found sufficient to fatten an ox, than 

 is at this time necessary for that purpose. Indeed there 

 are few questions equally interesting to the farmer, or 

 that can be more readily determined, than the fatten- 

 ing properties of grasses, especially in England, where 

 they have easy modes of weighing cattle, and can rea- 

 dily ascertain what they have gained or lost, in any 

 given space of time. But not only the knowledge of 

 the fattening properties of grasses, that may be obtain- 

 ed from the separate collecting of grass seeds, but all 

 the different properties of the various kinds of grasses 

 may be thereby understood, such as those best calcu- 

 lated to increase the quantity of milk, butter or cheese,* 

 and to give additional value to their flavour. Useless 

 plants may also be eradicated, and the space they 



* Tlie possibility of attaining these objects has been rendered 

 probable, by the sudden change in the taste of cows' milk, from 

 feeding a short time on Florin grass. See x\rchives of Useful 

 Knowledge, vol. 2, p. 273, Farmf;r*s Magazine, Edinburg, March 

 1812, p. 12. 



J. M. 



