sect. I. THE COUNTY OF FIFE. 221 



siderable quantity to others. When hay is the 

 object, rye-grass and red clover are sown in a 

 mixed state, in the proportion of two Winches- 

 ter bushels, or which is nearly the same, two 

 wheat firlots of rye-grass, and 1 6 pounds of red 

 clover to the acre. The seeds are sown, some~ 

 times separately, and sometimes mixed. The 

 first is judged the preferable method. When 

 rye-grass is intended for seed, it is sown by it- 

 self, or with a very small proportion of clover. 

 If the crop is intended for green food, it con- 

 sists either altogether of clover, or, which is 

 the better method, with a small proportion of 

 rye-grass. When the land is to be laid down 

 for pasture, a less quantity of red clover is al- 

 lowed, and the deficiency supplied with white 

 clover and rib-grass. 



There are two kinds of rye-grass, the one pe- 

 rennial, and the other annual. When the land 

 is intended to carry grass for one year only, the 

 annual kind is perhaps preferable, as it produces 

 rather a more luxuriant crop than the other, 

 and leaves no quick roots to hurt the land. 

 Rye-grass, especially if the seed be allowed tp 

 ripen, is a very exhausting crop. But clover 

 has the contrary effect, partly from its being a 

 broad leaved succulent plant, and therefore de- 

 riving much of its nourishment from the air, 

 and partly from the largeness of its roots, which 

 being reduced to a putrescent state by tillage, 

 serve to fertilize the soil. Clover, when not 

 sown too thick, produces a tall strong stem ; 

 the root of course will be proportionally large, 

 and therefore must be more ameliorating. But 

 when so\vn thick, and the stems consequently 



