806 THE COMPLETE GRAZIER. BOOK ix. 



that the size or extent of the enclosure influences the use and value of 

 pastures. 



On damp soils a dressing of one cwt. nitrate of soda, two cwt. super- 

 phosphate of lime, and three cwt. kainit may prove very beneficial in 

 sweetening the grass and increasing its growth. Indeed, super- 

 phosphate alone will generally effect a marked improvement. 



Basic slag in dressings of five to ten cwts. per acre is of great value for 

 grass land, especially on clay soils poor in lime, on which it encourages 

 the growth of clover. On soils containing a sufficiency of lime, liberal 

 applications of superphosphate have a like effect. If the soil in either 

 case be poor in potash, kainit or sulphate of potash materially assists. 

 Slag should be applied in the autumn to show its full effect in the 

 following season. 



Grass land, whether meadow or pasture, may be well chain-harrowed 

 and rolled, during the latter part of winter and early spring, in order to 

 distribute dung and destroy moss. It is almost impossible to work such 

 land too much provided it is not done during frost. Harrowing and 

 rolling are practically the only kinds of tillage grass land receives, 

 though much grass land has little or no need of such treatment. 



In the southern counties pastures are fit for stocking from the latter 

 part of March to the commencement of May, according to their 

 situation and the nature of the soil; but in such as are situated 

 farther north, the turning of cattle into the pasture may be delayed till 

 the middle of May, or even longer, with considerable advantage. All 

 pastures are rendered sweeter by being eaten off tolerably bare at least 

 once a year. 



One of the most efficient means of regenerating poor pastures is 

 draining. Harrowing, too, has an excellent effect on hide-bound or 

 mossy land, but without additional manuring the moss soon re-appears. 

 Applications of clay benefit sandy and peaty soils; composts, liquid 

 manures, w r ood ashes, soot, bones, superphosphate, potash salts, basic 

 slag, salt, nitrate of soda, guano, chalk, and lime, are all excellent as 

 top-dressings for different soils. Numerous experiments have proved 

 that the judicious use of artificial manures renders the application of 

 farmyard manure to grass lands unnecessary, unless at wide intervals 

 The latter, as a rule, is more needed on arable land. 



Marked irregularities arise in pastures owing to the too common 

 practice of allowing the droppings of horses and cattle to lie un 

 disturbed upon the land. They should be spread frequently. 



A source of injury to pastures, Mr Martin J. Sutton points out, 1 

 may arise from the manner in which grazing is conducted. " It is 

 obvious that land can never be enriched by the droppings of cattle fed 

 exclusively upon its herbage, but, on the contrary, must by degrees 

 become the poorer for supporting the life and increasing the weight of 

 the animals which graze it. In milk and flesh the land yields its 



1 "Permanent and Temporary Pastures, with Descriptions and Coloured Illustrations of 

 Leading Natural Grasses and Clovers. 1 ' By Martin J. Sutton, Chevalier de la Legion 

 d'H'>nneur, &c. Fourth edition. London : Simpkin, Marshall, & Co., 1891. We are 

 indebted to the Author for permission to make numerous quotations from this work. 



