9D2 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. 



which it can be sub<lued and kept under, but by adding strength to the grass plants, and thereby enabling 

 them to suffocate their enemy. Moss is never found on rich lands unless they are completely shaded by 

 trees. Besides mole-hills, upland meadows, when neglected, are frequently troubled with ants, which 

 form heaps or hillocks of grass and earth, more injurious and more diificult to get quit of than those of 

 moles. The mode of taking moles is a simple operation, and will be described in the proper place ; 

 that of destroying ants is more complicated and tedious, and, being peculiar to grass lands, shall here 

 be described. 



5775. Ant-hills, or habitations, are injurious to meadow lands, by depriving the farmer of a crop in pro- 

 portion to the surface they occupy, and by interfering with the operations of rolling and mowing. They 

 consist of little eminences, composed of small particles of sand or earth, lightly and artfully laid together, 

 which may often be computed at a tenth part, or more, of old grass-lands. In some places, where negli- 

 gence has suffered them to multiply, almost half the land has been rendered useless ; the hills standing as 

 thick together as grass-cocks in a hay-field: and what is very surprising, this indolence is defended by 

 some, who affirm, that the area or superficies of their land is thereby increased ; whereas it is well known 

 that very little or no grass ever grows thereon, and, therefore, if the surface is increased, the produce is 

 proportionably decreased. 



5776. In order to remove ant-hills, and destroy the insects, it has been a custom in some places, at the 

 beginning of winter, and often when the weather was not very cold, to dig up tlie ant-hills three or four 

 inches below the surface of the ground, and then to cut them in pieces, and scatter the fragments about ; 

 but this practice only disseminates the ants, instead of destroying them, as they hide themselves among 

 the roots of the grass for a little time, and then collect themselves together again upon any little eminence, 

 of which there are great numbers ready for their purpose, such as the circular ridges round the hollows 

 where the hills stood before. It is, therefore, a much better method to cut the hills entirely off, rather 

 lower than the surface of the land, and to let them lie whole at a little distance, with their bottom up- 

 wards ; by this means the ants, which are known to be very tenacious of their abodes, continue in their 

 habitations until the rains, by running into their holes of communication, and stagnating in the hollows 

 formed by the removal of the hills, and the frosts, which now readily penetrate, destroy them. If a little 

 soot were thrown on the places, and washed in with the rains, it would probably contribute greatly to the 

 intended effect. The hills, when rendered mellow by the frosts, may be broken and dispersed about the 

 land. By this method of cutting the hills, one other advantage is gained ; the land soon becomes even 

 and fit for mowing, and the little eminences being removed, the insects are exposed to the wet, which is 

 very disagreeable and destructive to them. It would, perhaps, be a better practice than that of suffering 

 the hills to remain on the ground, to collect the parts of them which have been pared off into a heap, in 

 some convenient place, and then form them into a compost, by mixing a portion of quick-lime with them. 

 In wet weather these insects are apt to accumulate heaps of sandy particles among the grass, called by 

 labourers sprout-hills, which quickly take off the edge of the scythe. These hills, which are very light and 

 compressible, may be conveniently removed by frequent heavy rolling. 



5777. In the Norfolk mode of cutting and burning ant-hills, the process is, to cut them up with a heart- 

 shaped sharp spade or shovel, in irregular lumps of from ten to fifteen inches in diameter, and from two 

 to five or six inches thick. These are to be turned the grass-side downwards, until the mould-side is 

 thoroughly dry, and then to be set the grass-side outwards, until they are dry enough to burn. The fire 

 may be kindled with brushwood, and kept smothering, by laying the sods or lumps on gradually, as the 

 fire breaks out, until ten or fifteen loads of ashes are raised in one heap, which the workmen formerly com- 

 pleted for a shilling or eighteen-pence each load of ashes. The places from which the hills have been re- 

 moved may be sown with grass-seeds. Besides the destruction of the ants, this is a ready, though by no 

 means an economical, way of raising manure, and in some cases ought not be neglected, on grounds where 

 such a process is required. 



5778. What is called " gelding " ant-hills is thus described : With a turfing-iron make two cuts across 

 the hill at right angles to each other ; then turn back the four quarters thus obtained from off the hill, 

 leaving it bare ; next cut out and throw to a distance the interior earth of the hill with all the ants ; turn- 

 ing their winter's hoard of provision, as well as all their excavated abode, to the very bottom. Now return 

 the quarters of turf to their former place, treading them down to form a basin to hold the winter's rain, 

 which will prevent the settlement of any new colony of the ants, and they, being thrown on the surface, 

 will perish by the frost. 



5779. Where grass lands are sufficiently rolled with a heavy roller once or oftener every year, no ant- 

 hills will ever be formed greater than the roller can compress, and consequently no injury will be sustained. 

 In this, as in most other cases of disease, proper regimen is the best cure. In domestic economy, various 

 directions are given for destroying bugs, lice, and other vermin ; but who ever had any to destroy, who 

 attended properly to cleanliness ? 



5780. The surface of some grass lands that have been long rolled is apt to get into that tenacious state 

 denominated hide bound. When this is the case, scarifying the turf with a plough, consisting only of 

 coulters, or harrow-teeth, or, in preference to all other implements, with Wilkie or Kirkwood's brakes, 

 so that the whole surface may be cut or torn, is to be recommended. That tenacious state, rolling tends 

 to increase; whereas, by scarifying, the surface is loosened, and the roots acquire new means of improved 

 vegetation. This operation seems particularly useful, when it precedes the manuring. When hay land 

 of a retentive quality is depastured by cattle or horses in wet seasons, it receives much injury from their 

 feet, and becomes what is technically called poached. Every step they take leaves an impression, which 

 fills with rain water, and then the hole stands full like a cup. This wetness destroys the herbage, not only 

 in the hole, but that also which surrounds it, while at the same time the roots of the grasses, as well as the 

 ground, are chilled and injured. No good farmer, therefore, will permit any cattle to set a foot on such 

 land in wet weather, and few during the winter months, on any consideration. Sheep are generally 

 allowed to pasture on young grasses in dry weather, from the end of autumn to the beginning of March ; 

 they are then removed, and it rarely happens that any animal is admitted till the weather be dry, and the 

 surface so firm as to bear their pressure without being poached or injured. 



5781. In manuring upland meadows, the season, the sort, the quantity, and the frequency of application 

 are to be considered. 



5782. With regard to the season at which manure should be applied, a great difference of opinion prevails 

 among the farmers of England. In the county of Middlesex, where almost all the grass lands are pre- 

 served for hay, the manure is invariably laid on in October {Middlesex Report, p. 224.), while the land is 

 sufficiently dry to bear the driving of loaded carts without injury, and when the heat of the day is so 

 moderated as not to exhale the volatile parts of the dung. Others prefer applying it immediately after 

 the hay-time, from about the middle of July to the end of August, which is said to be the " good old time " 

 (Cow. to Board of Agriculture, vol. iv. p. 138.) ; and if that season is inconvenient, any time from the 

 beginning of February to the beginning of April. {Dickson's Practical Agriculture, vol. ii. p. 915.) It is, 

 however, too common a practice to carry out the manure during frosty weather, when, though the ground 

 is not cut up by the carts, the fertilising parts of the dung are dissipated, and washed away by the snow and 

 rains before they can penetrate the soil 



5783. There is scarcely any sort of manure that will not be useful when laid on the surface of grass 

 grounds ; but, in general, those of the more rich dung kinds are the most suitable for the older sort of 

 sward lands ; and dung, in composition with fresh vegetable earthy substances, the most useful in the new 

 leys or grass lands. In Middlesex it is the practice of the best farmers to prefer the richest dung they can 

 procure, and seldom to mix it with any sort of earthy material, as they find it to answer the best with regard 

 to the quantity of produce, which is the principal object in view ; the cultivators depending chiefly for the 



