GENERAL PRINCIPLES. 41 



.Range pastures cannot be kept from deteriorating where 

 re-seeding through the processes of nature is hindered by 

 close grazing. 



Pastures are grazed under improper conditions if 

 grazed when too wet or when too much frozen. When 

 the soil is too wet the ground poaches, and in some in- 

 stances becomes impacted. Both conditions are adverse 

 to growth. The injury from such pasturing on very stiff 

 soils may extend over years. The reasons for the in- 

 jury to pastures from close grazing when the ground is 

 hard frozen are not so apparent, but the fact of such 

 injury cannot be doubted, nor should the fact be over- 

 looked that all the influences unfavorable to production 

 in pastures just so far encourage the growth of weeds in 

 these. 



Renovating Meadows. Since meadows are in a great 

 majority of instances of but limited duration, the at- 

 tempt is seldom made to renovate them. More com- 

 monly when the production on these falls below tne line 

 of profits, they are overturned with the plough. But in 

 some instances the stand of grass secured at the first is 

 only partial, and for various reasons it may be desirable 

 to improve it. In other instances the stand may be good 

 but the production is low from want of plant food in 

 the soil. In these it may be desirable to stimulate 

 growth, and in yet other instances, owing to the diffi- 

 culty of getting a stand, the aim is to prolong the period 

 of productiveness through what is termed self -seeding ; 

 that is, renewal from seed which falls from the plants ID 

 the meadow. 



When the stand of grasses is but partial, as when, for 



