Young on Laying down TMiid to Grass. 53 



well with it. Young records that an agriculturist 

 (Dalton) had sown grass seeds with beans, which were 

 preceded by barley, and which again was preceded by 

 turnips, and the results were so successful that he 

 preferred this to all other methods. In order to note 

 the advantages of sowing grass seeds with oats as 

 against doing so with wheat, Young on one occasion 

 sowed 10 acres with 10 lb. of chicory and 4 or 5 bushels 

 of cocksfoot per acre. Five acres were sown with 

 wheat and the rest with oats, and he found that the 

 cocksfoot did much better" with the wheat. He speaks 

 highly in favour of sowing up land with wheat in the 

 beginning of September. He quotes an agriculturist 

 (Goring) who " once sowed grass seeds amongst turnips 

 in the spring, and the sheep trod them in with their 

 feet as they fed off the turnips. No corn was sown 

 with them, and they flourished beyond any other.'' 

 After quoting other opinions. Young thus concludes his 

 section on laying down to grass : — 



" Upon the whole of these most valuable articles of intelli- 

 gence, and combining them with the result of my own extensive 

 experience, I am decidedly of opinion that the best method is 

 to sow the seeds alone in August ; that the next best method is 

 to sow them with buckwheat* in July; after these I should 

 prefer rape in August on soils not apt to bind with treading ; 

 then comes the sowing with wheat early in September, and the 

 last and worst method is to sow them with spring corn." 



I next proceed to give some notes of what Young says 

 of some grasses. Of crested dogstail he remarks that 

 in one of the very best fields on Romney marsh, and 

 famous for fattening sheep, it is third in a list of plants 

 (Price " On Sheep," p. 276.) A Mr. Knight is quoted as 



* Young elsewhere praises buckwheat highly as an ameliorating 

 crop, and one which increases the production of wheat. It deserves 

 more attention than it has received. It takes little out of the soil, 

 and he quotes Tusser as observing that " it is to the land a comfort 

 or muck." It is good for fattening swine and poultry, and as food for 

 horses. 



