GRASSES. 367 



taken as an average, but different soils had different quan- 

 tities 5 Ibs. rape, 5 Ibs. cow grass, 5 Ibs. white clover, 

 2 Ibs. red clover, 2 Ibs. alsike clover, 2 Ibs. meadow foxtail, 

 1 Ib. crested dogstail, 2 quarts meadow fescue, 8 quarts 

 Italian rye grass, 8 quarts Pacey's rye grass, 8 quarts 

 Steckney's rye grass, 2 quarts cocksfoot. 



168. 5. Period at which First Fed, generally in August. 

 The field sown is always divided by hurdles into three or 

 four divisions, and these are fed in rotation, not allowing 

 them to get too bare. The stock in the first year, always 

 sheep, which fatten with surprising rapidity. The rape 

 affords shelter to the young seeds, and the additional feed 

 gives increased droppings on the land and increased fer- 

 tility. 



1 69. 6. Future Management, and Manures, if any. 

 The second year, a part is generally cut for hay, mown 

 early about 4th to 8th of June, and a luxuriant fog 

 follows. The part pastured is fed by a mixed stock of 

 horses, cattle, and sheep, and so on, from year to year. If 

 judiciously stocked and attended to, the pasture becomes, 

 in the second or third year, like old good pasture land, and 

 will continue so. Land managed as above twenty years 

 ago, is now still fine pasture. You will observe that all 

 wet land is first drained, either before the first plougher 

 out, or in the stubble. As to improvement in value, the 

 land has been advanced from 100 to 500 per cent. We 

 took into our hands about 100 acres from a farm that had 

 been ploughed and mismanaged ; the farmer was glad to 

 get quit of it at 3s. 6d. per acre. After undergoing the 

 above course of treatment, and after we had three years of 

 the first grass, the farmer was pleased to have it again at 

 25s. per acre, and it is now far cheaper to him than when 

 he paid 3s. 6d." 



170. The second point to be considered is the "im- 

 provement of worn-out old pastures." Bad pastures arise 

 not only from the defective quality of the grasses grown, 

 but also from the defective nature of the drainage. A sine 

 qua non is therefore the complete draining of the land. 



