Grass 
millions of useful bacteria and insects are utterly de- 
stroyed. ‘There cannot be any accumulation of good 
humus, and the grasses that eventually survive such 
treatment are just the sour, woody, or wiry kinds that 
are the least valuable of all. 
When the South African veldt is enclosed and properly 
pastured the yield may be indefinitely increased, but that 
will not be for a very long time to come. 
In England the best grass pastures are the rich 
river alluvials, which were once thickets of Phragmites 
or brakes of alder and willow. Next to these are the 
rich grazing lands, “old pastures” which have been 
gradually brought into perfect condition by generations 
of skilful farmers, 
Nothing else on the farm can compare with these grass 
lands. Store bullocks, milch cows, and young cattle will 
yield a far higher profit when grazed upon them than 
can possibly be expected from any other farm crop. 
This illustrates the truth of M. Porcius Cato’s view 
(B.C. 234). To feed stock well was in his opinion the most 
certainly profitable of all agricultural operations. The 
next was “tofeed moderately” (that is, of course, the stock), 
It is neither at all easy in such a climate as ours to 
make such a pasture, nor even after it has been made 
to keep it in the best condition. 
There are the following distinct and different points 
which have to be carefully studied. 
I. Those grasses only must be chosen which are 
wholesome and relished by animals. 
There are many poisonous plants, such as hemlock, 
foxglove, Equisetum, Oenanthe, Cicuta and the like, 
which a curious botanist often discovers by the hedges 
or in the ditches of.a pasture field. One would have 
expected that the poisonous or wholesome nature 
of every British plant had been definitely decided by 
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