73 



cattle, in the different changes of weather, much like a 

 change of ground ; the high for coolness, and to be less 

 tormented with flies in hot weather, and the low to escape 

 the surly blasts of winter. In the h'ne grazing farm at 

 Creslow, near Aylesbury, so long occupied by the cele- 

 brated grazier, the late Mr. Westcar, there is one of the 

 pastures which contains upwards of three hundred acres. 

 As there is in it a very good supply of water, there cannot 

 be a doubt but that it might be advantageously subdivided, 

 for in all large pastures, some parts of them will produce a 

 much sweeter herbage than others ; the beasts, therefore, in 

 any thing like a grass-producing year, wfll graze some parts 

 of the pasture very close to the ground, and others scarcely 

 touch ; which is generally mown, but which can never be 

 made but into a very inferior kind of hay. 1 have heard 

 some graziers talk of leaving grass for winter and spring 

 keep ; this practice I have ever thought bad ; the 

 grass of all pastures should be well bottomed before spring-. 

 Where the grass has decayed on the ground, a less quantity 

 will shoot up in the spring, and that will have so sour a 

 taste, that fatting beasts will not touch it. The owner of 

 the Creslow farm is Lord Clifford, who, I understand, feels, 

 as many other noblemen probably would, if they possessed 

 such a property, that as there is not another so large and 

 fine a grazing pasture in England, likes it to remain as it is. 

 It is advantageous to graze sheep with beasts, but the 

 larger and more valuable the beasts, the smaller should be 

 the proportionate number of sheep. If there should be a 

 carriage-road in a sheep-pasture, or even a much-used 

 foot-path, the sheep ought to be folded, to prevent their 

 leaving their manure on it. In many pastures they are 

 apt to lie every night on the same part, and there leave 

 their dung : in such case, folding is judicious. Cow-clotts 

 should be gathered up in the spring and summer : in the 

 winter they should be knocked about. A pasture cannot 

 be a good one for beasts, that has not a good supply of 

 water. Unless unusually hot, sheep, in summer, will do 

 very well without any, if the grass is of sufficient length to 

 retain, for some time in the morning, the dews of the 

 evening. There should be no water in the field where ewes 

 are kept in lambing time. 



