PASTUlti: i.A.NDS. 



to bring them into regular cultiva- 

 tion, wliich often fails aftor a great 

 outlay of numey, they are not thought 

 worth attention. Yet many rough, ■ 

 hilly pastures miglit be doubled and 

 tripled in value, merely by clearing 

 the surface, burning coarse grasses, 

 rushes, ferns, and furze, and sowing 

 a few seeds where the ashes have 

 been spread. The additional number 

 of cattle or sheep wliich can be main- 

 tained by this means would surprise 

 any one who had not had experience 

 of such improvements. The forming 

 of convenient channels for the water 

 to run off is another important ob- 

 ject, which can often be effected at a 

 trifling expense ; and a loo.se surface 

 laid dry by this means may be much 

 improved by merely burning the heath 

 which grows upon it. After the fire 

 has scorched the ground, grasses will 

 spring up spontaneously ; and, at a 

 very small expense, a considerable 

 tract of mountain pasture may be con- 

 verted from the state of a brown 

 heath, or moor, to that of a fine green 

 sward. 



" Wherever there are large pas- 

 tures, proper and suitable buildings, 

 made of substantial materials, should 

 be erected. The cattle should have 

 numerous sheds for refuge in bad 

 weather, and sheep especially should 

 have protection and shelter. Warmth 

 is in some cases of more importance 

 than food : and an animal exposed 

 to all the severities of a northern cli- 

 mate requires more food to keep him 

 alive than when he is kept warm and 

 protected from the immediate influ- 

 ence of cutting winds. 



"To those who have extensive 

 pastures, as on the prairies, it is of 

 great importance to ascertain wheth- 

 er oxen, heifers, cows, or sheep are 

 the most profitable, and of these, 

 what breeds suit the situations ; and, 

 when this has been determined by 

 experience, to know what quantity 

 may safely be kept, without suffering 

 for want of sufficient food, or allow- 

 ing any portion of the pasture to 

 wither or become coarse from not 

 being duly fed off. Whatever be the 

 stock depastured, the greatest atten- 

 558 



tion should be paid to them by a 

 herd.sman or shepherd of experience, 

 who should have a certain number 

 only under his care. It is a good 

 plan to give him some share or inter- 

 est in the produce as part of his wa- 

 ges. When any part of the stock is 

 sold off to drovers or butchers, he 

 should have a per centage on the sale. 

 This will give him the activity of an 

 owner, and he is not so likely to be 

 negligent and allow the stock to suf- 

 fer from a want of sufficient food, or 

 from accidents which can be prevent- 

 ed by proper attention. 



" When the soil is naturally deep 

 and of a good quality, but the situa- 

 tion renders it not advisable to con- 

 vert the pastures into permanent 

 arable land, and the herbage has been 

 deteriorated and overrun with moss 

 or weeds, it is a very effective mode 

 of improving the pasture to plough 

 up the sward as thin as possible, and 

 then, having removed the sods into 

 heaps or rows, to plough and scarify 

 the bared surface to the depth of four 

 or five inches, so as to give it the 

 appearance of a fallow field. When 

 it is well pulverized and harrowed 

 level, the sod, which had been taken 

 off, is chopped into small pieces by 

 the spade, and scattered over it ; and 

 after a shower has somewhat moist- 

 ened the surface, it is well rolled with 

 a heavy roller. Thus the moss is 

 effectually destroyed ; the root weeds 

 have been eradicated, and the fine 

 grasses, the roots of which are short 

 and fibrous, are preserved. They 

 will soon strike into the loosened 

 soil, and a fine close sward will be 

 the result. The improvement is still 

 greater if lime is put on the land be- 

 fore the spreading of the sods, and if, 

 at the same time, some of the best 

 grass seeds are sown over it. The 

 proper season for this operation is 

 after harvest, and no cattle should be 

 admitted till the next spring. 



" In the richest pastures, an acre 

 will maintain and fatten an ox of 

 eighty or ninety stone, and some- 

 times keep several sheep in store or- 

 der besides. There is a marked dif- 

 ference between land that will fat- 



