Book VI. WOBUfiN GRASSES. 8<W 



5712. On the culture of these grasses it is unnecessary to enlarge, as it must obviously 



be the same as that of rye-grass or any of the others, 



5713. The chief difficulty is to get the seed in sufficient quantity, for which a good mode is to contract with 

 a seedsman, a year beforehand, for the quantity wanted. With all the pasture grasses, except the last class, 

 we should recommend at least half the seed to be that of the perennial rye-grass ; and we think it should 

 also form a considerable part of the seeds used in laying down all meadows, except those for the aquatic 

 or stoloniferous grasses. These, if they thrive, are sure to choak and destroy it, and therefore neither 

 rye-grass, nor any other grass, should ever be sown with Timothy grass or fioria 



5714. The formation of grassy surfaces by distributing pieces of turf over them has long 



been practised in gardening, in levelling down raised, or filling up hollow, fences, and 



in other cases of partially altering a grassy surface. 



5715. It is said to have been first used in agriculture by Whitworth, of Acre-house, Lincolnshire; 

 and in 1812 it was brought forward on a large scale by John Blomfield, of Warham, in Norfolk, a tenanc 

 of Coke's. Blomfield planted eleven acres in this way. An account of the process, which is stvled trans- 

 planting turf, or inoculating land with grass, has been published by Francis Blaikie, Coke's steward. (On 

 i.v Conversion of Arable Land into Pasture, 12mo, 1817.) 



5716. An abstract of the process of transplanti?ig turf, and an opinion on it, are thus given in The Code 

 of Agriculture. A piece of good clean, sweet old turf, which ought principally to consist of fibrous-rooted 

 plants, is cut into small pieces of about three inches square, and placed about six inches apart on the 

 surface of ground prepared for that purpose. In this way one acre of turf will plant nine acres of arable 

 land. The pieces of turf should be carefully placed with the grass side uppermost, and the plants pressed 

 well into the ground. No more turf should be cut, carried, and spread in any one day than is likelv to be 

 planted before night. If the transplanted turf is found deficient in any particular species of favourite 

 plants, as white clover, permanent red clover, &c. the seeds of those plants should be sown upon the voung 

 pasture in ApriL When the ground is in proper temper (between wet and dry) the pasture should be 

 frequently well pressed down by heavy rollers, which will cause the plants to extend themselves along 

 the ground rather than rise into tufts, which otherwise they would be apt to do. No stock should be per- 

 mitted to feed upon the transplanted pasture in the first spring or summer, nor until the grasses have 

 perfected and shed their seeds. Indeed the pasturing should be very moderate until the mother grass- 

 plants and their voung progeny have united and formed a compact turf. The expense of this operation is 

 about 21. 10s. per statute acre ; without making any allowance for the charges incurred by summer 

 fallowing the arable land on which the turf has been transplanted ; nor for the year's rent, poor's rates, 

 and taxes for that year ; nor for restoring the land whence the turf plants were taken, to its previous 

 state. This plan seems to be well calculated to promote the improvement of light soils, not naturally of a 

 grassv nature; for the grasses and their roots being once formed on a rich soil, will probably thrive after- 

 ward's even on a poor one, as they will derive a considerable proportion of their nourishment from the 

 atmosphere. For light and gravelly soils, therefore, where permanent pasture is desirable, the plan can- 

 not be too strongly recommended ; "and if it were found to answer on peat, after the surface was pared 

 /or the reception of the plants, and burnt to promote their growth, it would be a most valuable acquisition 

 to sheep fanners in many districts of the country. Thus far Sir John Sinclair; but, from facts related bv 

 Sinclair of Woburn, it appears to be a plan of little or no merit, and only brought into notice by its 

 novelty. [H. G. Mob. 2d edit 420, 421.) 



Sect. III. General View of the Produce, Uses, Character, and Value of the principal 



British Grasses, according to the Result of John Duke if Bedford's Experiments at Woburn. 



*5717. In all permanent pastures, Sir H. Davy observes, nature has provided a mixture 



of various grasses, the produce of which differs at different seasons. Where pastures 



are to be made artificially, such a mixture ought to be imitated ; and, perhaps, pastures 



superior to the natural ones may be formed by selecting due proportions of those species 



of grasses fitted for the soil, which afford respectively the greatest quantities of spring, 



summer, lattermath, and winter produce ; a reference to the results of the Woburn 



experiments, he adds, will show that such a plan of cultivation is very practicable. 



57 IS. The manner in which these experiments u-ere conducted is thus described : — "Spots of ground, each 

 containing four square feet, in the garden at Woburn Abbey, were enclosed by boards in such a manner 

 that there was no lateral communication between the earth included by the boards, and that of the gar- 

 den. The soil was removed in these enclosures, and new soils supplied ; or mixtures of soils were made 

 in them, to furnish as far as possible to the different grasses those soils which seem most favourable to their 

 growth ; a few varieties being adopted for the purpose of ascertaining the effect of different soils on the 

 same plant The grasses were either planted or sown, and their produce cut and collected, and dried at 

 the proper seasons, in summer and autumn, by Sinclair, His Grace's gardener. For the purpose of deter- 

 mining, as far as possible, the nutritive powers of the different species, equal weights of the dry grasses 

 or vegetable substances were acted upon by hot water till all their soluble parts were dissolved ; the solu- 

 tion was then evaporated to dryness by a gentle heat in a proper stove, and the matter obtained carefully 

 weighed. This part of the process was likewise conducted with much address and intelligence by Sinclair, 

 by whom all the following details and calculations are furnished. The dry extracts supposed to contain 

 the nutritive matter of the grasses, were sent to me for chemical examination. The composition of some 

 of them is stated minutely, but it will be found from the general conclusions, that the mode of determining 

 the nutritive power of the'grasses, by the quantity of matter they contain soluble in water, is sufficiently 

 accurate for all the purposes of agricultural investigation." (Agr. Che?n. app.) 



5719. The leading results of these experiments we have endeavoured to present in a tabular view ; farther 

 details will be found in the paragraphs (antecedent and posterior) referred to in the first column. On the 

 other columns of the table, it mav be observed, that the height is given more by a guess than measurement, 

 and after the appearance of the plants in a state of nature or medium soils. It is to be regretted that the 

 height of the plants was not included in the published details. The time of flowering is given as it took 

 place at Woburn ; on which it is observed, that " to decide positively the exact period or season when a 

 grass alwavs comes into flower, and perfects its seed, will be found impracticable; for a variety of circum- 

 stances interfere. Each species seems to possess a peculiar life in which various periods may be distinctly 

 marked, according to the varieties of its age, of the seasons, soils, exposures, and modes of culture." 



5720. The soils, as denominated in the column devoted to them, are thus described. 1st, By loam, is 

 meant any of the earths combined with decayed animal or vegetable matter. 2d, Clayey loam, when the 

 greatest proportion is clav. od, Sandv loam, when the greatest proportion is sand. 4th, Brown loam, 



brown loam, &c, are varieties of the above, as expressed. The abbreviations of the names of books and 

 native soils, with all abbreviations used in this work, will be found explained in the General Index. 



