CHAP. ix. HEAVY AND LIGHT STOCKING OF PASTURES. 157 



peculiar sweetness, so that during the intervening period stock may be 

 allowed to bite somewhat nearer to the ground. It will, however, be 

 necessary to remove fattening cattle, from time to time, into fresh 

 grounds ; so that by taking the uppermost and choicest part of the 

 grass, they may feed both expeditiously and profitably, and no loss be 

 thus incurred ; for, as before stated, the grass left behind them may 

 be fed off, first with later cattle, and afterwards with sheep. This 

 plan cannot be too carefully regarded, for if cattle are in want of 

 sufficient food, they will lose more flesh in one day than they can 

 possibly recover in three. 



The pastures that are in fenny situations, or retain moisture for a 

 considerable time, should be fed off as early as possible, lest sudden 

 or long-continued rains should fall ; these will not' only render the 

 juices of the grass thin and watery, and ultimately putrescent, but 

 will also materially affect the health and constitution of the animal. 

 In order to prevent the losses consequent on such a course, it will be 

 necessary daily and attentively to inspect the grazing stock, and if 

 any beasts appear to be affected by eating wet grass, they should be 

 immediately withdrawn to a dry pasture, and fed with hay or straw ; 

 or, if they cannot be conveniently removed, they must be driven to 

 the driest spot, and there supplied with sweet cut grass and dry fodder. 



The heavy or light stocking of pasture ground is a point on which 

 many graziers are by no means agreed. By some it is contended that 

 the pastures should be stocked very lightly. They allege that although 

 much of the produce is thus allowed to run to seed produce which 

 the cattle will not eat, and which is consequently trodden under foot, 

 where it rots and is wasted, yet experience shows that a greater profit 

 will, on the whole, be derived thus than by any other practice. 



By others, on the contrary, it is maintained that the practice of light 

 stocking is highly to be condemned because it not only tends gradually 

 to diminish the produce, but also to encourage the growth of coarse 

 and unprofitable grasses, which materially deteriorate the pastures and 

 that the heaxy stocking of grass lands, particularly those of a rich 

 quality, is an indispensable requisite of good management. It must 

 be confessed that the superior fertility of the heavily stocked Lincoln- 

 shire pastures tends greatly to corroborate these views, which also 

 receive further support from the practice of the most experienced 

 graziers in Bomney Marsh. It is recommended by yet others (whose 

 opinion, perhaps, approximates more nearly to the truth), that mixed 

 stock should be always kept on the same field ; for the foul grass, pro- 

 duced \)j the dung of some animals, will be consumed by others ; and, 

 as different kinds of stock no doubt prefer different species of grasses, 

 there is an evident advantage in this practice. 



In every field numerous plants spring up spontaneously, some of 

 which are disliked by one class of animals, while they are eaten by 

 others ; and not a few plants, although eaten with avidity at a par- 

 ticular period of their growth, are entirely rejected by the same beasts 

 at another time. Hence it becomes necessary, not only to have a 

 variety of stock in the same pasture, but also to pay particular atten- 



