Paddocks and Pastures. 21 



down a few recommendations, leaving the question of their 

 value to the judgment of his readers. 



HOW TO OBTAIN GOOD PASTURES. 



The " ideal " horse pasture could, perhaps, best be 

 obtained by taking arable land of suitable quality, 

 thoroughly cleaning it of all weeds, and sowing it down 

 with the finest horse grasses. But the disappointments 

 which so often follow the operation of " laying down to 

 grass," to say nothing of the long spell of waiting to get 

 a good " sod," would not appeal to the stud master anxious 

 to see his colours unfurled on the Turf without undue 

 delay. 



It is generally accepted that pasturage deteriorates 

 more quickly under grazing by horses than under any 

 other kind of stock. Their excrement has a more pernicious 

 effect on the herbage, and their habit of confining their 

 attentions to one or two particular species of grasses, to the 

 exclusion of all others, facilitates the seeding and conse- 

 quent increase of the latter, to the detriment of the former. 

 The evils arising out of this inherent trait of " staling " 

 or poisoning the land they graze on, can be minimised by 

 extending the acreage allotted to each horse; but the 

 problem of dealing with the coarser grasses shunned by the 

 horses is rendered proportionately more difficult as the 

 acreage allotted to each horse increases. 



The ideal way to solve the coarse grass problem, 

 would be that of using the mowing machine. But unfor- 

 tunately the pursuit of ideals is often a very costly 

 pastime, and when applied to grass-farming on a large 

 scale, would generally be found prohibitively so. A stud 

 of twenty mares would require 250 acres of pasture if the 

 ideal system of " 10 acres per head " were in force. While 



