672 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 11 



of a medium quality, without reference to any par- 

 ticular soil, the following will prohahly, iu niauy 

 cases, be found the most useful. The quantity to 

 be used must, however, be varied accordino; to 

 circumslances, as the proportions of the dittereni 

 species to be sown must always depend on the na- 

 ture of the soil ; and if every kind should not be 

 sown, the others should be increased accordingly. 



Smooth-stalked poa. 

 Rough-stalked poa, 

 Meadow fescue, 

 Meadow fbx-tail, 

 Crested dog's-tail, 

 Kib-grass, 

 Tin^othy-grass, 

 Yellow oat-grass, 

 Perennial rye-grass, 

 Cock's-fbot, 

 Yarrow, 



Sweet-scented vernal, 

 White clover, 



8 quarts. 

 8 " 

 12 " 



6 ' 



4 ' 



4 ' 



4 ' 



12 ' 



4 ' 



4 ' 



2 ' 



6 lb? 



Cow-grass and annual mea- 

 dow-y:rass. 



4 lbs. 



The common practice is, with the exception of 

 clovers,.|o sow those seeds by measure ; but it has 

 been suggested by Mr. Lawson, of Edinburgh, 

 seedsman to the Highland Society, thai it would be 

 more correct to sow them all by weight ; " for al- 

 though in grass-seeds, the greater weight of" one 

 is no criterion of its superiority over another varie- 

 ty of less weight, yet a greater weiiiht in the 

 same variety, always denotes a superior quality. 

 Thus when seed is light, and consequently inferior, 

 the greatest number of" seeds is obtained by ad- 

 heritig to a given weight; and hence there is the 

 chance of nearly an equal number of plants spring- 

 ing up as when the seeds are plump and heavy.'' 

 With this view he has given several tables regard- 

 ing the application of the different seeds under va- 

 rious circumstances ; one of which we here select, 

 and refer our readers lor the remainder, to his es- 

 say in the Quarterly Journal of Agriculture.* 



For Permanent Pasture, per Imperial Acre. 



We have reduced the above, as nearly as we 

 could, without descending to fractions, fi-om the 

 weights given for the Scotch acre ; and although 

 we are of opinion that a more complete selection 

 might have been made, yet it will serve to call at- 

 tention to the principle on which the table has been 

 framed. 



There is a very large tract of land, called Stone- 

 brash, which extends fi'om the nortii of England 

 through Warwickshire, Gloucestershire — the Cots- 

 wold hills being almost wholly composed of it — 

 with some parts of Wiltshire and Somersetshire. 

 Under the greater portion of this district there are 

 beds of marl, which have been very much used in 

 the conversion of arable to grass, and with such 

 extraordinary advantage, that the value of the 

 ground. is said to have been in some instances tre- 

 bled, and even quadrupled, in value. The grasses 

 usually sown are — 



Perennial rye-grass, 1 bushel. 



Marl, or cow-grass, 10 lbs. 

 White clover, 3 lbs. 



Hop-clover, or trefoil, 1 lb. 



The grasses are sometimes mown and sometimes 

 fed in the first year, though the latter is considered 

 the better practice, and the marling does not take 



place until the following July, as it is necessary 

 that the land should be well covered with grass 

 when the marl is laid on ; (or if the surface be na- 

 ked, it will cake, and the summer's heat will burn 

 up the young plants. No natural grasses are sown, 

 but they come up spontaneously, and in about 

 three years, they take place of those which are ar- 

 tificial. From that time — as we learn upon the 

 authority of Mr. Davis of Longleat, the surveyor 

 of Wiltshire — the land continues, for the space of 

 nearly twenty years, and sometimes more, to be 

 equal to the best native meadow-land in the coun- 

 try ; but after that period, the marl sinks into the 

 ground below the reach of vegetation, the grasses 

 decay, and mosses take their phice. When again 

 ploughed up, it, however, bears several crops of 

 corn previous to a repelilion of the marling, which 

 is done in the same way as at fiisl, and with equal 

 success-.f 



Nearly the same plan of seeding has been fol- 

 lowed in Dorsetshire and some other places, which 

 do not possess the advantaije of marl, only varying 

 the quantity of ad the seeds except rye-grass, to 

 equal amounts of six or s;'ven pounds each. By 



* New Series, No xxiii. 

 t Cornm. to the Board of Agriculture, vol. iii, p. 90. 



