366 " TRANSACTIONS OP SECTION M. 



following remark, 'In this field the hassock-grass, which made up a large 

 proportion of the pasture, was freely eaten, and the cattle were in good con- 

 dition. ' 



In Hall and Eussell's investigations Agrostis and Holcus might on occasion 

 each exceed 20 per cent., and it is stated that 'Wherever Holcus lanatus occurs 

 it is more abundant on the fatting fields.' Even miscellaneous herbage could 

 bulk over 29 per cent, on a pasture so good that it could fatten five bullocks 

 on four acres without cake. Armstrong found in a field representative of ' the 

 richest type of old grazing land found in the Market Harborough district ' 

 that, amongst grasses, Poa annua came second (12-3 per cent.) in point of 

 abundance ; while in two meadows, also in Leicestershire, the one representa- 

 tive of ' the choicest meadow land of the neighbourhood,' and the other ' a 

 meadow of above the average quality,' the grasses were 41-5 per cent, and 

 70-3 per cent, respectively, in the second case Agrostis amounting to 12-7 per 

 cent. There will be general agreement in this audience that four of the grasses 

 just mentioned, Fiorin, Yorkshire Fog, Squirrel Tail, and Hassock are 

 accounted 'bad,' and yet it is hard to apply this term to plants which are 

 the most abundant constituents of some of the finest pastures in England. 

 While there is much that is disconcerting in these investigations, some facts 

 do emerge with satisfactory consistency, (1) that the great majority of high- 

 class pastures contain a large proportion of perennial ryegrass and white clover, 



(2) that crested dogetail is almost always present though rarely predominant, 



(3) that meadow fescue is practically negligible, and (4) that of the two Poas, 

 pratensis and trivialis, the former is very rare, while the latter is very common. 



The obvious deduction to be drawn from these investigations is that the 

 quality of a permanent pasture is only in a minor degree determined by the 

 relative abundance of its constituent plants, or, in the words of Hall and 

 Russell, ' We can only conclude that the feeding value of a pasture is largely 

 independent of the floral type.' Factors of much greater weight are depth 

 and physical character of the soil, soil moisture and temperature, density of 

 the herbage, and the natural or induced composition of the soil as regards 

 plant food, and especially in respect of phosphoric acid. 



That much seems to have been proved, but, such proof notwithstanding, I 

 cannot think we are justified in going so far as Carruthers, when he says, ' The 

 composition of the pastures shows the fallacy of seeking in natural pastures 

 the standard for laying down arable land in permanent grass. The adoption 

 of such a standard is to reverse the whole practice and principles of modern 

 farming.' 



It seems to me that the lesson that may be learned from a study of the old 

 pastures of England is that we need not include in a seeds mixture for permanent 

 purposes plants which never bulk to any considerable extent in old grass land, 

 but that we should include all of those which are usually naturally abundant. 

 Take, as an illustration, the case of perennial ryegrass. In the eighties of 

 last century, when much interest was taken in the subject of the best way 

 to lay down land to grass, an almost violent controversy arose over the desira- 

 bility or otherwise of including perennial ryegrass in a seeds mixture for 

 permanent pasture. The main opponehts of ryegrass were Faunce de Laune 

 and Carruthers, who would have excluded this species under all circumstances. 

 The work of Lawes, published under the title ' The History of a Field newly 

 laid down to permanent grass,' '^ also tells against ryegrass, though it is to be 

 noted that the field in question, sown down in 1859, was mowed every year, 

 and there is some reason to believe that this grass is more persistent in a 

 pasture than in a meadow.' On the other hand, we have the evidence of a 

 series of experiments laid down by myself in Huntingdonshire in 1900 and 

 reported on in 1905 by Biffen '^ and Middleton,* which shows that under certain 



= Jour. Roy. Agric. Soc. Engl. 1889, p. 1. 



6 R. G. Stapledon and T. J. Jenkin, 'Pasture Problems'; Jour. Agric. 

 Science, vol. viii. , p. 53. 



' Cambridge University Department of Agriculture Guide to Experiments, 

 1907, p. 104. 



' T. H. Middleton, ' The Formation of Permanent Pastures,' Jour. Board 

 of Agric, vol. xii., pp. 385 and 449. 



