supplement. AGRICULTURE AS PRACTISED IN BRITAIN. 1353 



productive of forage ; but though many attempts have been made to bring the seeds to Europe in a live 

 state, the attempt has not yet been attended with success. (G. C. 1842, p. 351.) 



8413 — 5629. Gorze, instead of being bruised as formerly before being given to horses or cattle, is now 

 cut by machines like those in use for cutting hay and straw. It is found that both horses and cattle feed 

 with much greater avidity upon the gorse when cleanly and regularly cut, than when reduced into a con- 

 sistence nearly approaching a pulp, by bruising or crushing. In this state also it is apt to become sour 

 in the summer season, in which state it is rejected by all animals. (Brit. F. M., N. S., vol. iv. p. 359.) 



8414 5(j43. Old pasture compared with new. John Boswell, Esq., of Kingcausie, Aberdeenshire, has 



long been of opinion that permanent pasture, instead of being a good thing, is a bad thing. Alter recapi- 

 tulating his experience during several years, and strongly recommending thorough under-draining, deep 

 ploughing, and manuring, he concludes thus : — "I maintain that, except a few favoured spots, such as 

 banks of rivers, &c, no ground can, without loss, be left long in pasture ; and that it appears to me, four 

 or five years is, generally speaking, the longest period land should be allowed to lie in grass. If pasture 

 be the object, at the end of that time the ground should be broken up as arable land, and then returned 

 to grass again. I maintain, that without grass severely cropped land cannot be restored to full fertility ; 

 and without cropping, grass cannot be made to continue at the maximum point of verdure and utility. 

 Lastly, I maintain, no land, under any circumstances, ought to be cut in hay, if intended to remain some 

 years in pasture ; and, if cut as hay, every kind of land ought to be directly ploughed, and again put 

 through the rotation." (Quart. Jour. Agr., vol. iv. p. 790.) 



8415. — 5647. The great object of mixing different grass and herbage seeds together, is to stock the sur- 

 face of the soil at once so thickly with useful plants as to prevent weeds from rising up through them. 

 Experience has proved that this cannot be done so effectually when only one or two species of grass or 

 herbage seeds are employed, as when a greater number are made use of: and the reason appears to be 

 found in the diversity of soils and situations. In general, the richer the soil the smaller will be the num- 

 ber of species which it will require. When the selection of grass seeds is judicious, there will be a con- 

 stant succession of herbage kept up by them the whole year round, as grasses of several sorts grow at all 

 times when the temperature is above the freezing point. 



8416. — 5647. Grass seeds. By an experiment made by Messrs. Drummond of Stirling, with a view to 

 ascertain the proper covering for grass seeds, it appears that the common rye grass will penetrate 

 through a deeper covering than any other agricultural grass, having risen through a layer of soil of three 

 inches in thickness. The Pbse and //giostes, which have very small seeds, will not bear more than a 

 quarter of an inch of cover; and from a quarter to half an inch appears the proper depth for the other 

 sorts. Hence, instead of using the common harrow for covering grass seeds, the surface should merely 

 be ruffled by a brush, or some implement in imitation of one, and well rolled. (Gard. Mag. 1841. p. 509.) 



8417. — 5653. The Tussack Grass (Festuca flabellata Lamarck, F. caespitdsa Rcem. et Schultes, .Daclylis 

 caespitosa Forsler), a native of the Falkland Islands, where it is perennial and grows six feet high, with 

 fan-shaped leaves, like those of an Iris, is expected soon to be introduced at Kew, whence some of 

 Ward's cases have been sent out for bringing it home. Every animal is said to feed upon it with avidity, 

 and get fat in a short time. It may he planted and cut like the Guinea grass of the West Indies, but unfor- 

 tunately it will only thrive where its roots have access to salt water. There is another kind of Tussack 

 grass in the Falkland Islands, the farex trifida, which grows only 1J feet high, and, like other Carices, is 

 of no use as a forage grass. (G. C, 1843, p. 131. and 190. ; the Jour. A. E., vol. iv. p. 17. ; and Hooker's 

 Notes on the Botany of the Antarctic Voyage, 8fc, 1843, p. 52.) 



8418 5655. Italian rye grass is found far a-head of all other grasses in early spring, and therefore it 



is particularly adapted for coming in after the turnip season as early green food for cattle. Ir should be 

 sown in autumn along with 7Yifolium incarnatum, which keeps pace with it in early and vigorous vege- 

 tation, even in Scotland. (Brit. Farm. Mag., vol. i., 2d Series, p. 502.) 



8419 5656. The Italian ryegrass, Mr. Lawson found to be the same variety as Stickney's rye grass. 



It is considered superior to any other grass in producing winter herbage, and to be more hardy than the 

 common rye grass. (Highland Soc. Trans., vol. x. p. 28.) 



84'20. — 5693. Voa nemoralis var. nervosa, the Hudson's Bay meadow grass, has been brought into 

 notice by Mr. Bishop. Its value arises from a property which it possesses, and which is common to 

 no other grass cultivated in Scotland, viz., that of the flower stem, after being cropped, reproducing 

 shoots from the stem as well as the root : in consequence of which it continues growing throughout the 

 whole year, particularly in the latter part of summer and autumn. A specimen mown oft' cold damp 

 land on the 14th of April, 1836, averaged from 18 inches to 20 inches in length (G. M. 1837, p. 283.) 



8421. Brbmus prattnsis L., B. erectus Sinclair, is strongly recommended by M. Vilmorin for poorsoils 

 liable to be burnt up with drought. Sheep, he says, are remarkably fond of it. (G. M. 1841, p. 467.) It 

 is the only grass 



8422 5717. Number of kinds of grasses required in laying down permanent pasture. A judicious 



writer in the Quart. Jour, of Agr. is of opinion, that more of these grasses are brought into notice than 

 their good properties will warrant. Independently of perennial rye grass and white clover, which must 

 always occupy a large share of every permanent pasture, perhaps five or six of the others are all that are 

 worth cultivation. It is true, many worthless grasses will grow up among our most carefully laid down 

 pastures, and they no doubt assist in thickening the sward. But this is surely no adequate reason to 

 sow them ; and if it be necessary to sow a certain quantity of seed to cover the ground, that quantity 

 should be composed of the best kinds. One reason for sowing a number of kinds is, that more plants 

 will thrive closely together of different sorts than of the same sort. Allowing this to be the fact, there 

 is still no necessity for incurring the trouble and expense of sowing worthless kinds, when a variety of 

 them will grow naturallv out of the soil to form a thick sward. Should the different kinds arrive suc- 

 cessively at their greatest vigour, seeds of the best sorts can be selected on account of their coming to 

 maturity at the different seasons when pasturage is required It seems that 41 bushels will just furnish 

 as many fertile seeds, that is, seven to the square inch, as there are plants in that space in a natural 

 pasture : but if even more are required to render the pasture better, more of the best kinds only should 

 be sown to insure the requisite thickness of sward. (Quart. Jour- Agr., vol. iv. p. 414.) 



8423. Kinds and qualities of grass seeds for laying doivn laud. '1 he most valuable article which nas 

 appeared on this subject since the publication of Sinclair's Hortus Gramiiicus IVoburncnsis, will be 

 found in the Quarterly Journal of Agriculture, vol. iv. p. 714— 724. This article is by Mr. Lawson, an 

 eminent seedsman in Edinburgh ; who for a number of years has directed his attention to the subject, 

 with a degree ol success which has been acknowledged by the first agriculturists in Scotland to be pre- 

 eminently great. After giving a short description of thirty species or varieties of proper grasses, and 

 eleven herbage plants, of which he has seeds for sale, he enumerates six other herbage plants, all Lepuini- 

 nbsa?, the seeds of which are not yet articles of commerce, but which he says may be advantageously in- 

 troduced into cultivation, as soon as their seeds can be obtained. These are, iotus major, J lcia Crucca, 

 r. sepium, and f. syhatica, /.athyrus pratensis, and Trifolium medium. 



8424. Sowing the seeds of grasses and herbage plants by weight, instead of the general practice of sowing 

 the grasses by measure, and the clovers by weight, is strongly recommended by Mr. Lawson. " lor, 

 although in grass seeds the greater weight of one variety is no criterion of its superiority over another 

 variety of less weight, yet a greater weight in the same variety always denotes a superior quality. I bus 



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