2G2 THE VILLA GARDENER. 



or artificially, during winter, it is better at that season to exercise the cow by 

 driving her gently along a lane or quiet road ; and in warm weather, by 

 allowing her, in addition to this, to remain for some hours every day in the 

 open yard attached to the cowhouse, 



359. Mamire will always repai/ aii occupant, even if he should have only a 

 single crop after it ; but in this case he should take care that the manure is 

 thoroughly decomposed, and equally and thinly distributed over the ground, 

 so that the greater part of its nutriment may be imbibed by the plants the 

 first season. Liquid manure is the best for this purpose ; and next soot, and 

 those manures or composts which are sold in a state of powder. Wherever a 

 part of a residence is under grass which is to be made into hay, or even 

 pastured by sheep or cattle, there is, in general, no mode in which the pos- 

 sessor can lay out money on his land to such advantage as in thickly coating 

 the surface with stable manure. It rarely happens that the culture of arable 

 land by a proprietor will pay its own expenses ; but we know various 

 instances, in the neighbourhood of London, where, by richly manuring grass 

 land, and selling the growing crop every year by auction, the proprietor has 

 obtained a good profit. 



360. The paddock may always he harmonised with the pleasjcre-ground of 

 the place, and rendered ornamental, by scattering a few trees over it ; by 

 introducing a shelter for the cow in the form of an open shed, in a proper 

 situation; and by the judicious disposal and planting of the drinking-pond. 

 It sometimes happens that a pond cannot be conveniently formed in a pad- 

 dock, from the want of springs, or from the porosity of the surface soil being 

 such that the rain-water cannot be collected by gutters in sufficient quantities 

 to fill it. In this case, the usual substitute for a pond is a pump with a 

 cistern, in some convenient part of the paddock, which may be partially con- 

 cealed by bushes, or rendered ornamental as an architectural object. 



3GL The trees for a paddock may either be of the ornamental kind, or 

 they may be the more robust-growing fruit-trees. If ornamental trees, they 

 ought to be of such sorts as will grow freely, and soon be in a state not to 

 require fencing ; and, whether merely ornamental trees, or fruit-trees, or both 

 are employed, they should neither be introduced in such numbers as to injure 

 the pasture by their shade and drip, nor crowded round the di'inking pond in 

 such a manner as to discolour the water in autumn by their falling leaves. A 

 few trees may be considered as advantageous, for affording the cow shelter 

 and shade during rains or very hot sunshine ; but, beyond a certain point, 

 they must be considered injurious to the grass, and only allowable on account 

 of their ornamental effect, or of the fruit that they produce. Where good 

 healthy pasturage is the object, from half-a-dozen to a dozen trees per acre 

 ought on no account to be exceeded ; because grasses a7id clovers, like all other 

 plants, to attain their greatest nutrimental value, require to have their foliage 

 fully exposed to the direct influence of the sun, and to the free circulation of 

 the air. 



362. Ornamental trees. — The trees for a paddock ought to be of small size, 

 even when fully grown ; but they ought to be such as grow rapidly when 

 young, so as to be soon out of the reach of cattle. The following kinds pos- 

 sess these advantages, and are, besides, ornamental in appearance : — 



/IVcr Pseudo-Platanus, the common syca- A. macroph^llum, the CaUfornian maple, 

 more. //. riibrum, the red maple. 



