90 PEEMANENT AND TEMPORARY PASTURES. 



(lepeiident on rain, and it" only a brief sliower falls, the seeds 

 will start. Then if there come the dry blast of an east wind, 

 or burning drought, every seedling will perish. 



I am not conjuring up difficulties for the sake of saying 

 'There is a lion in the path,' but rather to show that for so im- 

 portant and costly an undertaking as laying down land .to grass 

 there is absolute necessity for insisting on the cleanest possible 

 seed-bed. Even when the farmer has done his utmost to clean 

 the land, plenty of weeds will spring up in the soil. It is then 

 a question of precedence. If the grasses come qidckly, the 

 annual weeds do little harm when promptly checked, but if the 

 weeds obtain a strong lead the injury to the grasses may prove 

 serious, perhaps entirely destructive. Happily the majority of 

 seasons favour the sower, but that does not relieve him from 

 the necessity of taking every reasonable precaution to ensure 

 success under what may prove to be very adverse influences. 

 Possibilities must be considered, and by being forearmed the 

 probability of success may be considerably enhanced. 



It is in the immediate after-management of newly-sown grass 

 that the advantages of dispensing with a corn crop are realised. 

 Nothing can be done to help grasses sown in corn until the corn 

 is cut and carried, but when grass is sown alone it is possible to 

 top the plant as soon as it is a few inches high with a sharp scythe, 

 and the benefit will speedily be visible. After mowing, the roller 

 should be put over the land again, which will help still further 

 to consolidate it, and to give the young plants a firm grip of the 

 soil. The more frequently the pasture is mown and rolled during 

 summer, the more rapidly Avill the ground be clothed with 

 verdure. By August or September, if there has been a favour- 

 able season, the grass may be allowed to grow on to produce a 

 small lattermath hay crop, after whicii it will carry horned 

 stock, eating cake, through the autumn. 



Althouo-h constant mowinj? will <?et rid of groundsel and other 

 annual w^eeds, it will be powerless against such pests as docks 

 and coltsfoot. These can only be removed by a spud or narrow 



