Value of Di'ought-resisting Plants. 33 



that, when on a visit to Oxfordshire the week following, 

 when a bad drought there was at its worst, I found 

 burnet, growing on high dry land, quite green and 

 fresh-looking, though surrounded with grass, bleached 

 as white as that on an Indian plain in the hot season.* 



But besides their drought-resisting qualities, two of 

 the plants recommended have valuable medicinal pro- 

 perties, for they keep sheep in healthier condition, and 

 both burnet and yarrow are of especial value in enabling 

 sheep to contend with diarrhoea, while the former is 

 valuable in cases of rot in sheep. Some years ago, 

 when there was much diarrhoea amongst our sheep, 1 

 asked a very experienced farmer, who occupied land 

 contiguous to mine, to notice especially how far my 

 :Socks compared with his, and I found that I had a much 

 smaller proportion of afflicted sheep and lambs. 



Another advantage was also found from using much 

 cocksfoot and strong-rooting plants, and that is that 

 the couch grasses were almost extinguished, and this, 

 of course, cheapened the cost of cultivation when the 

 land was again brought under plough. Lastly, it may 

 be observed that from an experiment in a field on the 

 low-lying land on this property, I have reason to surmise 

 that chicory and burnet, if used in sufficient quantity 

 (which they were not in my first experiments), are 

 instrumental in lessening moss, or even of almost 

 entirely preventing its appearance, though it is difficult 

 to determine how much this effect is caused by the 

 aeration of the soil which is effected by the strong and 

 deep roots of these plants, or by their causing the 

 ground to be more quickly and completely covei'ed, or 

 by both. 



* During the summer of 1898 we had a severe drought, which 

 showed conspicuously the advantage of using drought-resisting plants. 

 I this year observed, what had before escaped my notice, the great 

 drought-resisting power of the late-flowering red clover, which is 

 particularly to be recommended for light soils, and I am now inclined 

 to place it, as a drought resisting plant, on a level with chicory, 

 burnet, and kidney vetch. 



C 



