56 PERMANENT AND TEMPORARY PASTURES. 



infested with pernicious weeds as to need most carefid cleaning 

 before it is fit to sow. To avoid this risk of making tlie land foul, 

 seed has long been grown in England, and continuous selection 

 has developed all the good qualities of the imported stock, 

 except its extreme vigour. One variety, ' Sutton's Evergreen,' 

 grows with extraordinary freedom, and has the characteristic 

 of tillering out and producing a great quantity of leafy herbage 

 with a small proportion of stalks. 



Italian Rye Grass wdll grow in almost any soil, but is least 

 satisfactory on poor dry land, unless it can be freely assisted witli 

 liquid manure. Still, fair results have been obtained from heaths 

 dressed witli marl and farm-vard dung". This grass flourishes in 

 w^armtli and moisture, and in rich damp soils the growth is 

 extremely rapid. Irrigation by liquid manure results in enor- 

 mous crops following each other in surprisingly swift succession. 

 Yet, although the plant is succulent beyond comparison, it is 

 very hardy, enduring our coldest winters Avith impunity, and 

 startinfj earlier into o;rowth and continuins; later in autumn than 

 any other grass. 



Italian Eye Grass is so much preferred by stock, that when a 

 two years' ley which contains it is fed off, the cattle will not 

 allow a single flower-stalk to ripen. It promotes a great flow of 

 milk, and improves the flavour of butter and cheese. The cele- 

 brated Parmesan cheese is said to be made from the milk of 

 cows fed entirely on Italian Eye Grass. This plant supplies a 

 larger quantity of keep than can be obtained from an equal 

 area of any otiier grass. 'No wonder, therefore, that with such 

 remarkable qualities it should have been tried, and is still largely 

 used, for permanent pastures, although every authority of note 

 has pronounced it unsuitable for tliat purpose. It is so gross 

 a feeder as actually to choke and smother the Poas and finer 

 Fescues, instead of nursing and sheltering them from scorching 

 heat and severe frost as Perennial Eye Grass does. And when 

 its own ephemeral course is run, it leaves the land destitute 

 both of plants and nourishment. Valuable as it is for alternate 



