17 2 THE OX AND THE DA1KY. 



although in hot and dry weather it frequently burns up the 

 grass where it falls, when it is diluted by showers, the im- 

 proved appearance of the surface shows that its effect has 

 not been detrimental. To enrich poor meadows there is no 

 manure so effective as diluted urine, or the drainings of stables 

 and dunghills. 



When pastures are poor and the herbage is of a bad quality, 

 the cause is in the soil. A poor arid soil is not fitted for 

 grass, nor one which is too wet from the abundance of springs 

 and the want of outlet for the water. The defects can only 

 be remedied by expensive improvements. A soil which is 

 too dry may be improved by cultivation and judicious ma- 

 nuring ; but for this purpose it must be broken up and 

 treated for some time as arable land : and it may be a question 

 whether or not the expense of improving the soil will be 

 repaid by the superior quality of the pasture when it is again 

 laid down to grass. In general the poor light soils, if they 

 are worth cultivation, answer better as arable land, especially 

 where the turnip husbandry is well understood. The low wet 

 clay soils may be converted into good pastures by draining 

 them well ; and judicious draining on such soils is the most 

 profitable investment of capital. 



When old meadows have been neglected, or too often mown, 

 without being recruited by manure or irrigation, they are often 

 overrun with moss or rushes, and produce only a coarse sour 

 grass. In that case, besides draining it if required, the land 

 must be broken up and undergo a regular course of tillage, 

 until the whole of the old sward is destroyed, and a better 

 collection of grasses cover the surface. If this be done judi- 

 ciously, the pasture will not only be greatly improved in the 

 quality, but also in the quantity of the grass. There is a pre- 

 judice against the breaking up of old grass land, which has 

 arisen from the improper manner in which it is frequently 

 effected. The sward when rotten is a powerful manure, and 

 produces great crops of corn ; and this tempts the farmer to 

 repeat the sowing of corn on newly broken up lands. The 

 fertility is reduced rapidly ; and when grass seeds are sown 

 after several crops of corn, the soil has been deprived of a 

 great portion of the humus and vegetable matter which is 

 essential to the growth of rich grass. The proper method of 

 treating grass land, broken up to improve it, is to take no 

 more corn crops than will pay the expense of breaking up, 

 carting earth, lime, or other substances upon it, to improve 

 the soil, and to lay it down to grass again. 



