t 322 ] 



considerable, than when the s >ed : s superficially inser- 

 ted in the soil. 



There has been much difference of opinion with 

 respect to permanent pasture ; but the advantages or 

 disadvantages can only be reasoned upon according to 

 the circumstances of situation and climate. Under 

 the circumstances of irrigation, lands are extremely 

 productive with comparatively little labour; and in 

 climates where great quantities of rain falls, the natur- 

 al irrigation produces the same effects as artificial. 

 When hay is in great demand, as sometimes happens 

 in the neighbourhood of the metropolis, where man- 

 ure can be easily procured, the application of it to pas- 

 ture is repaid for by the increase of crop ; but top- 

 dressing grass land with animal or vegetable manure, 

 cannot be recommended as a general system. Dr. 

 Coventry very justly observes, that there is a greater 

 waste of the manure in this case, than when it is 

 ploughed into the soil for seed crops. The loss by 

 exposure to the air, and the sunshine, offer reasons in 

 addition to those that have been already quoted in the 

 Sixth Lecture, for the application of manure even in 

 this case, in a state of incipient, and not completed 

 fermentation. 



Very little attention has been paid to the nature 

 of the grasses ,best adapted for permanent pasture. 

 The chief circumstance which gives value to a grass, 

 is the quantity of nutritive matter that the whole crop 

 will afford ; but the time and duration of its produce 

 are likewise points of great importance ; and a grass 

 that supplies green nutriment throughout the whole of 



