332 SYSTEMS OF MANURING CROPS [chap. 



and an equal amount of kainit forms the only mixture 

 which will improve the herbage on these very light soils, 

 but even then the change will be slow and never so 

 pronounced as on clay land, because the tufted deep- 

 rooting grasses which prevail are better able to resist 

 the competition of the leguminous plants. Nitrogenous 

 manures, and particularly dung, are harmful and only 

 encourage the coarse herbage. 



On the thin chalky soils nitrogenous manures are 

 valuable, and a pasture may be permanently improved 

 as well as enabled to carry more stock in the current 

 season b\- the application of 3 or 4 cwts. per acre of a 

 mixed fertiliser, containing 3 of superphosphate, 3 of 

 kainit, and i of sulphate of ammonia. But for the 

 creation of a good pasture on the thin chalk soils, dung 

 is the most essential manure ; as much farmyard manure 

 as possible should be spared for the grass land and a 

 hay crop taken the season after the application ; then it 

 should be grazed and, if necessary, helped during the 

 grazing by the artificial mixture specified above. 



But it must always be remembered that on the thin 

 dry soils, whether chalk or sand, only a very limited 

 expenditure on fertilisers is likely to be repaid ; large 

 applications of manure will be certainly wasted, but it 

 is possible gradually to build up better pastures by 

 repeated small applications of the nature described. 



Seeds hay should not require any manuring; if the 

 land has been properly treated before the seeds were 

 sown there should be enough residue from previous 

 manuring to grow a good crop of mixed seeds. Any 

 active nitrogenous manure will stimulate the rye grass, 

 etc., at the expense of the more valuable clovers. A 

 fertiliser is sometimes used in the spring when the land 

 has lost plant severely through the winter, but this is 

 generally a wasteful proceeding, because fertilisers 



