CJRASS LAND. 



and collected on purpose sliould be 

 sown. The Tn/nluim rcpens (white 

 clover), the Tnfolutm medium (cow 

 grass), Mcdicago lupinula (trefoil), Lo- 

 liutn fcrcnne (rye (^rass), the poas and 

 festucas, are the best kinds of grass- 

 es. A very easy way of obtaining 

 good seed is to keep a piece of good 

 meadow shut up from the cattle ear- 

 ly in spring, carefully weeding out 

 any coarse grasses, and letting the 

 best arrive at full maturity ; then 

 mow and dry the crop, and thrash it 

 out upon a cloth. This will give the 

 best mixture of seeds ; but some of 

 the earliest will have been shed, and 

 these should be collected separately, 

 or purchased from the seedsmen. 

 Before winter the ground will already 

 be covered with a fine green, if the 

 seed has been plentiful. The quan- 

 tity per acre of the mixed seeds should 

 not be less than 30 or 40 pounds to 

 ensure a close pile the next year. If 

 the soil is not naturally rich, liquid 

 manure, or urine, diluted with wa- 

 ter, should be carried to the field in 

 a water-cart, and the young grass 

 watered with it ; this will so invig- 

 orate the plants, that they will strike 

 and tiller abundantly. They should 

 be fed off by sheep, but not too close. 

 The tread of the sheep and their urine 

 will tend to make the pile of grass 

 close, and the year after this the new- 

 pasture will only be distinguished 

 from the old by its verdure and fresh- 

 ness. 



"The fertility produced by grass 

 which is fed by cattle and sheep has 

 given rise to the practice of convert- 

 ing arable land to pasture for a cer- 

 tain time in order to recruit its 

 strength. The old notion was that 

 the land had rest, which by a confu- 

 sion of ideas was associated with the 

 rest of the labourers and the horses. 

 The land, by being in grass, has much 

 vegetable matter added to it from the 

 fibres of the roots which die and de- 

 cay, as well as from the other parts 

 of the grass, which draw nourishment 

 from the atmosphere and impart it to 

 the roots. Thus, in time, an accumu- 

 lation of humus is formed ; and when 

 the land is ploughed, the rotting of the 

 348 



sward greatly increases it Every 

 species of plant thrives well in this 

 improved soil ; and the vigour of the 

 growth is ascribed to the recruiting 

 effects of rest, by a fancied analogy 

 with the animal muscle, which is in- 

 vigorated by occasional inaction. 



" But it is well known that land 

 which has been some years in grass 

 is improved in fertility. The con- 

 vertible system of husbandry takes 

 advantage of this Aict ; and all its art 

 consists in reproducing a good pas- 

 ture without loss of time, after hav- 

 ing reaped the benefit of the fertility 

 imparted to the land during three or 

 four years when it was in grass. 

 Good pasture is very profitable ; so 

 are good crops : by making the one 

 subservient to the other, the farmer 

 who adopts the convertible system is 

 enabled to have a better profit than 

 those who adhere to a simple rota- 

 tion of annual crops. 



" When an arable field is sown with 

 the seeds of grasses and other plants 

 which give herbage for cattle, it is 

 called an artificial meadow, and the 

 various plants which are raised are 

 all called artificial grasses, although 

 many of them have no botanical title 

 to the name of grass, such as clover, 

 sainfoin, lucern, and many others, 

 which produce the best pastures and 

 the finest hay. 



" In laying dow^n a field to grass 

 for a very few years, the mode of 

 proceeding is somewhat different 

 from that which is recommended for 

 producing a permanent pasture. Clo- 

 verin this case is ahvays a principal 

 plant, both the red and the white ; 

 these, with annual or perennial rye 

 grass, are sown with a crop of oats, 

 &.C., in spring, and begin to show 

 themselves before harvest. The 

 grasses are often mown the first 

 year after they are sown, on account 

 of the abundance and value of the red 

 clover, but the best farmers recom- 

 mend depasturing them with sheep, 

 to strengthen the roots and increase 

 the bulk. Various circumstances, 

 such as a greater demand for clover 

 hay, or for fat cattle, may make mow- 

 ing or feeding most profitable ; but 



