Book VI. MEADOW LANDS. 901 



5766. To imitate the Leghorn plait in the most perfect manner, the straws should be plaited the reverse 

 way of the common English split-straw plait. In the English plait, the straws are flattened by a small 

 hand-mill made for the purpose ; but the Leghorn plait has the straws worked without flattening, and 

 pressure is applied after the plait is made. It is essential that these two points should be observed by 

 those wlio wish to rival the finest leghorn manufacture. By reversing the common mode of plaiting, the 

 finders have a much greater power in firmly and intimately knitting the straws ; and the round or un- 

 flattened state of the straws allows of their being more closely knitted, a circumstance that gives an 

 appearance similar to the real Leghorn plait. (Ibid.) The varieties of wheat or rye already mentioned 

 (5032. and 5057.) are now generally considered far preferable to any of the forage grasses for the purposes 

 of straw plait. 



Chap. VII. 

 Management of Lands permanently under Grass. 



5767. In every country by far the greater proportion of perennial grass lands is the work 

 of nature : and it is not till an advanced period in the progress of agriculture that much 

 attention is paid to their management. But as the extension of tillage, planting, and 

 the formation of parks and gardens, limit the range of the domestic animals, their focd 

 becomes more valuable ; and it then becomes an object to increase it by the culture of 

 roots and artificial herbage on some lands, and by the improved management of the spon- 

 taneous productions of others. In a highly cultivated country like Britain, therefore, 

 those lands retained in grass either are, or ought to be, such as are more valuable to the 

 owners in that state than they would be in any other. Such lands naturally divide them- 

 selves into two classes : those which are fit either for mowing or pasture j and those which 

 are fit for pasture only. 



Sect. I. Perennial Grass Lands Jit for mowing, or Meadow Lands. 



5768. Under the term meadow, we include all such land as is kept under grass chiefly 

 for the sake of a hay crop, though occasionally, and at particular seasons of the year, it 

 may be depastured by the domestic animals ; and we usually include under this term the 

 notion of a greater degree of moisture in the soil, than would be thought desirable either 

 for permanent pasture or lands in tillage. Where hay is in great demand, as near large 

 towns, and especially if a good system of cropping is but little understood, a great deal 

 of arable land may be seen appropriated to hay-crops ; but the most valuable meadows 

 are such as are either naturally rather moist, or are rendered so by means of irrigation. 

 There are three descriptions of these meadows ; those on the banks of streams and rivers ; 

 those on the uplands, or more elevated grounds ; and bog-meadows ; and each of these 

 kinds may be stocked with grasses, either naturally or by art, and may be irrigated l)y 

 one or other of the different watering processes already described. 



5769. Eiver-meado7vs, or those which are situated in the bottoms of valleys, are in 

 general by far the most valuable. They are the most productive of grass and hay, yielding 

 sustenance for cattle through the summer and the winter, and producing an everlasting 

 source of manure for the improvement of the adjoining lands. 



5770. The soil is deep, and commonly alluvial, having been deposited by water, or washed down from the 

 adjoining eminences ; the surface is even, from the same cause ; and, what is of considerable importance, 

 it has a gradual declivity or surface-drainage to the river or stream which almost invariably flows in the 

 lowest part of every valley, and which is essential to this description of meadow. The principal defects 

 to whicii such lands are liable are, the oozing out of springs towards their junction with the rising lands, 

 and the inundations of the river or stream. The former e\ il is to be remedied by under-draining, and the 

 latter by embanking. Such meadows are generally stocked with the best grasses; and their culture con- 

 sists of little more than forming and keeping open a sufficient number of surface-gutters or furrows to 

 carry oft" the rain-water ; rooting out such tufts of rushes, or bad grasses and herbage, as may occasionally 

 ippear ; destroying moles, and spreading the earth they throw up; removing heavy stock whenever their 

 /teet poach the surface ; shutting up, bush-harrowing, and rolling at the commencement of the growing 

 season ; and finally so adjusting the mowing and pasturing as to keep the land in good heart without laying 

 on manure, 



.^771. The most suitable meadows for irrigation are of this description ; the necessary drains and other 

 works are executed with greater care, and with less expense ; and the management, as we have seen (4380.), 

 is also comparatively easier than in watering sloping surfaces. 



5772. Upland meadows, or mowing lands, are next in value to those of valleys. 



5773. The soil is either naturally good, and well adapted for grass, or, if inferior by nature, it is so 

 situated as to admit of enrichment by ample supplies of manure. Of this last description are the upland 

 meadows or hay lands of Middlesex ; which, though on the most tenacious, and often stony clays, are yet, 

 by the abundance of manure obtained from the metropolis, rendered as productive as the best upland soils 

 employed as hay lands. The roots of perennial grasses, whether fibrous or creeping, never strike deep 

 into the soil ; and thus, deriving thoir nourishment chiefly from the surface, top-dressings, of well-rotted 

 manure, repeated on the same field for centuries, form at last a thin black stratum among the roots of 

 the grass, which produces the most luxuriant crops. 



'ill'i. The culture of upland meadows requires more attention and expense than that of valleys; being 

 more difficult to drain, and requiring regular supplies of manure. The irregular surface of uplands is apt 

 either to contain springs or to stagnate the surface wat-er ; the first produce marsh plants and coarse 

 herbage, and the latter destroys or weakens whatever is growing on the surface, and encourages thegrowth 

 of moss. Both evils are to be remedied by the obvious resources of drainage. Moss is a very com- 

 mon enemy to grass lands, and is only to be effectually destroyed by rich dressings of manure. Rolling, 

 and top-dressings of lime and salt, have been recommended for destroying it ; but there is no mode by 



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