886. ~ T'ransactions.— Botany. 
devote themselves. to studying and working out the best means of grazing 
the largest quantity of live stock the area can fairly and profitably carry. 
Instead of allowing the sheep or cattle to roam over the whole of the 
pastures at once, destroying more food than they eat, and searching*for the 
small patches of grass they prefer the taste of and neglecting the others, it 
will be necessary to divide the land into small hedge-enclosed paddocks, and 
by putting in a sufficient quantity of animals, cause them to eat the whole 
of the grass in a few days, and then remove them all into the next inclo- 
sure, and give the one they leave a rest, long enough for the grass to grow 
up healthily, before the stock are placed upon it again. And as there is 
often a difference in a very short distance in the chemical constituents of 
the soil and subsoil, in the wetness or dryness of the soil or subsoil, of 
the flat or hilly character, of the easterly or westerly exposure—giving 
it earlier or later sun-light impact (for it is well-known to scientists that 
the angle of incidence with which sun-light is able to strike land will 
materially alter its power of growing differing plants), the exposure or 
otherwise of the several pieces of land to prevailing winds, its mechanical 
condition of looseness or cohesion, and its condition of tillage,—these, and 
many others, will enable the man with knowledge to choose the right kinds 
of grasses to sow down on his several enclosures, and then by sowing as 
many of the proper kinds as possible upon each enclosure, the live stock 
will meet with a constant change of food, and will thus thrive and come to 
maturity at the earliest date, and give the largest return for the invested 
capital, And as neither animals nor plants can live without suitable chemical 
elements are supplied to them, and as the different species of grasses take 
up and assimilate different quantities and qualities of chemical elements, so 
the animals fed upon ground carrying such grasses can thus readily obtain 
the material they require to build up their tissues and organs. Again, 
each species of grass has its own particular season of greatest perfection, 
some in the summer, some in the winter, others in the spring, and others 
in the autumn, and the seasons of greatest growth also very materially 
differ ; for while the Briza, Alopecurus, and the Anthoxanthum, are growing 
fastest in spring, and certain of the Panicums, Andropogons, Anthisteria, 
etc., in summer; the Fescues and Phlewms, in autumn; the Poas, the Bromes, 
and others in winter—therefore, the latitude, elevation above sea level, and 
many other conditions, will regulate the species and varieties of grass to 
sow ; but as there are such numbers to select from in the numerous grasses 
of the world, there will be no difficulty found in choosing a large number of 
the best kinds for all sorts and conditions of pastures. Not only is it well 
to get grasses and fodder plants from other countries, and endeavour to grow 
and acclimatize them here, but to select the finest seeds from the best 
