94 PERMANENT AND TEMPORARY PASTURES. 



a new or an old pasture on tliat principle deserves to lind it 

 deteriorate in quantit}' and in (piality too. Liberties of tliis kind 

 are sometimes taken with a rich old pasture, and the injury may 

 not at once be apparent ; but it is most unreasonable to expect 

 tliat a young pastui'e will become established under the starving 

 system and at the same time yield heavy crops. 



One cause of tlie early deterioration of some new pastures 

 is no doubt traceable to grave faults in the prescription of th(3 

 grasses sown. Too many farmers are content if tliey can only 

 see ' somethiufj jxreen ,' witliout bestowinu; a thought as to whether 

 the ' something ' is good or bad. So long as men will only pay 

 about half the value of a first-class prescription of permanent 

 grasses and clovers, I suppose dealers will be found who are 

 ])repared to supply so-called permanent mixtures consisting 

 mainly of annual varieties of Eye Grass, Yorkshire Fog, Tus- 

 sock Grass, and other cheap seeds utterly unsuitable for the 

 purpose. 



Eeference has incidentally been made to feeding a pasture by 

 supplying the animals upon it with cake, and there is no better 

 means of enriching the land. But if the plant cannot be safely 

 fed ofl' until about ei2:hteen months after sowinjT, it is obvious 

 that some other means of stimulating the pasture must be adopted, 

 and this is why I strongly advise a top-dressing of farm -yard 

 manure after corn is carried, or an application of artificial manure 

 in spring. 



The Eothamstead experiments have demonstrated a fiict 

 which I am anxious to emphasise. After every care has been 

 exercised in selecting suitable grasses and clovers and a plant 

 has been established, the herbage of any piece of grass will 

 eventually depend on the after-management. If a field which 

 has been judiciously sown be divided into several portions, and 

 each portion is subjected to distnict and continuous treatment 

 for several succes-ive years, a decided difierence in the herbage 

 of the several pai'ts will become manifest. Certain manures 

 encourage the growth of certain grasses, and indirectly efl'ect the 



