170 THE OX AND THE DAIEY 



over a natural or artificial dam. This channel is carried round 

 a hill and supplies a series of channels, c,c,c, placed below 

 each other, forming catch-work along a declivity. A portion 

 of the water goes on to D, where it supplies the feeders of a 

 regular set of ridges, or beds, made as before described, from 

 which the water returns into the river by a main trench, into 

 which all the drains run. 



On the other side of the river, where the slopes lie some- 

 what differently, there are several examples of catch-work, 

 the black lines representing the drains which receive the 

 water after it has flowed over the surface, and carry it into 

 the river below. It is evident that all the feeders are nearly 

 horizontal, to allow the water to flow over their sides. 



Upland pastures are portions of land on which the natural 

 grasses grow spontaneously. The plants which form the na- 

 tural sward are not confined to the family of the graminese, 

 but many other plants, chiefly with perennial roots, form part 

 of the herbage. In the richest soils the variety is exceedingly 

 great. When a sod is taken up, and all the plants on it are 

 examined, the species will be found very numerous, and in 

 the same ground the plants will vary in different years, so as 

 to induce one to conclude, that like most other herbaceous 

 plants, the grasses degenerate when they have grown for a 

 long time on the same spot, and that a kind of rotation is 

 established by nature. It is chiefly in those pastures where 

 the grasses are allowed to grow till they form their seed that 

 this is observable ; for when they are closely fed, and not 

 allowed to shoot out a seed-stem, they are less subject to 

 degenerate and disappear. This may be a reason why ex- 

 perienced dairymen are so unwilling to allow their best 

 pastures to be mown for hay Close feeding is always con- 

 sidered the most advantageous both to the cattle and the 

 proprietor. 



The only way in which a pasture can be profitable is by 

 feeding stock ; and its value is in exact proportion to the 

 number of sheep or cattle which can be fed upon it in a sea- 

 son. Extensive pastures are often measured only by their 

 capacity in this respect. Thus we speak of downs for 1000 

 sheep ; and in Switzerland and other mountainous countries, 

 they talk of a mountain of 40, 60, or 100 cows, without any 

 mention of extent in acres. 



When a pasture is naturally rich, the only care required is 

 to stock it judiciously, to move the cattle frequently from one 



