68 Causes of the Appearance of Moss. 



seed, and these operations should be carefully superin- 

 tended. When the Duke of WelUngton was once 

 asked by Lord Mahon (afterwards the Earl Stanhope) 

 what was the principal cause of the success of his 

 campaigns, the Duke replied — " The real reason why 1 

 succeeded in my own campaigns is that I was always 

 on the spot. I saw everything and did everything for 

 myself." Farmers should apply this anecdote to them- 

 selves, and the proprietor, too, if he wishes his fields to 

 be so well filled with good grasses that there is no 

 room for weeds and bad grasses ; and do not let the 

 latter rely on his farm manager or steward, or both. 

 I have both, but, on looking into the work on one 

 occasion, I found that, partly from carelessness and 

 partly from the wind having sprung up, the seed was 

 largely landing, not on the vacant spots for which it 

 was intended, but on the adjacent grass. For later 

 experiences on this subject, vide Appendix III. 



Should it not suit the farmer to take a crop of hay 

 the first year he should be careful not to stock his laind 

 until the plants have begun to throw up their flowering 

 stems, and, if possible, should only stock with young 

 cattle. The vacancies should still be sown up in the 

 spring, for though some of the young plants would 

 probably be destroyed many would survive. 



I have remarked on the importance of filling up the 

 ground with the view of keeping out weeds and bad 

 grasses, but there is another enemy which must not be 

 lost sight of — moss, which will speedily reappear in the 

 vacant places, and spread from them. And as regards 

 moss, it is the same in the case of earth in a pot should 

 the plant which occupies it be in an unhealthy condition, 

 and so not only decline above, but make little root 

 growth below. The soil thus soon becomes solidified, 

 or, in other words, loses its good physical condition, 

 and then it begins to grow moss. And the springing 

 up of moss in a field is really owing to the exposure of 

 the land to the elements, and, besides, to its not being 



