

MANAGEMENT OF GRASS LANDS. 251 



Rolling is in some cases indispensable, and should be omitted 

 only when it has a tendency to increase a too tenacious state 

 of the sod, which by farmers is termed hide bound; in this 

 case, scarifying the turf with a plough consisting only of coul- 

 ters or harrow teeth, so that the entire surface maybe loosen- 

 ed, is to be recommended. This operation is undoubtedly 

 useful, especially when preceding the application of manures, 

 which have a more ready access to the roots of the grasses, 

 thereby, in the opinion of Sir JOHN SINCLAIR, obviating in 

 some measure the objections to that practice. 



Cattle nor horses must never be permitted to enter or remain 

 upon feeding lands of a retentive quality in wet seasons the 

 injury the best lands have received from this practice is incal- 

 calculable. "Every step heavy cattle take leaves an impres- 

 sion which rain fills with water, and then the whole stands full 

 like a cup. This wetness destroys the herbage, not only in the 

 hole, but that also which surrounds it; while at the same time 

 the roots of the grasses, as well as the ground, are chilled and 

 injured. No good farmer, therefore, will permit any cattle to 

 set foot on such land in wet weather, and few during the win- 

 ter months under any consideration." Rich pastures, on which 

 cattle feed well and thrive, should not be mown, but retained 

 as grazing lands. 



It is an important maxim in the management of grazing lands, not to adopt 

 the plan of mowing and feeding alternately. To maintain a proper quantity 

 of stock, the land must be accustomed to keep it: the more it has kept the 

 more it will keep four sheep this year, five the next, afterwards more with 

 the addition of manure. Land that has been used to the scythe, will often 

 produce more grass, but that will not, it is thought by some, support so much 

 stock, nor fatten them near so well as an old pasture, though it may have 

 been better manured. Nor will old pastures produce as much hay as the other, 

 for each will grow as they are accustomed to grow, and will not readily alter 

 their habits. SINCLAIR. 



It is a very nice point of practice to ascertain the cases in 

 which cutting or feeding, or in other words, soiling or grazing, 

 is the most beneficial. It depends entirely upon situation and 

 circumstances. The practice of soiling has certainly great ad- 

 vantages over the more common, and almost universal system 

 of allowing the animals to find their own food in the fields; 

 yet in many cases it is not practicable, and in certain other 

 cases not expedient. The cases in which it is not practicable, 

 according to Professor Low, are when the land does not 

 possess a sufficient degree of natural or acquired fertility to 

 produce good and early crops of grass, or when sufficient straw 

 to litter the animals during the period of feeding cannot be 

 obtained. The cases in which soiling, though practicable, is 

 not expedient, are, when the animals to be fed require exer- 



