Sinclair Advises but little Ryegrass. 79 



edition of his book, he became a nurseryman at New Cross, near 

 London. Shortly afterwards Mr, Charles Lawson, of Edinburgh 

 (Lord Provost of Edinburgh in the early sixties), went to New 

 Cross Nurseries, under Mr. Sinclair, and no doubt learned the 

 subject of the grasses there. In 1833 Mr. Lawson, having 

 returned to Edinburgh, and being engaged in the seed trade, 

 wrote his paper on grasses, which appeared in the Quarterly 

 Journal of Agriculture (see the volume I have sent you, page 

 714). As ryegrass was almost the only grass seed dealt in at 

 that time, and other species were difficult to obtain, Mr. Lawson 

 seems to have arranged the quantities in his tables to suit the 

 circumstances, and so he recommended the use of no less than 

 from 12 lb. to 30 lb. of perennial ryegrass per acre (with other 

 seeds) for laying down land to permanent pasture. But that was 

 not Sinclair's teaching. At page 243, second edition, ' Hortus 

 Gramineus Woburnensis,' Sinclair gives his selection of seeds 

 for permanent pasture, and although there is a certain vagueness, 

 on account of the quantities being chiefly given in bushels, yet 

 it is fair to assume that in Sinclair's opinion the proportion of 

 ryegrass to the other species in a pasture should be about one to 

 twenty. Lawson, however, recommended that ryegrass should 

 compose from one quarter to one half of the whole seeding. 

 The ' Agrostographia,' published by Lawson, continued to 

 recommend the excessive use of ryegrass, and the teaching of 

 this work was adopted by the seedsmen of Great Britain with- 

 out question. At that time the Lawsons supplied -the English 

 seedsmen with their grass seeds, and, in fact, controlled ' the 

 trade in natural grasses. Indeed, it may be said that they 

 not only supplied the other seedsmen with the seeds, but also 

 with the ideas and information in reference to the subject. 

 Thirty years ago the writer was three years warehouse manager 

 in the grass seed department of Lawsons, and is consequenlty 

 acquainted with the facts. 



" To Mr. Lawson is due the credit of creating sources of 

 supply for the various grass seeds, but it is a pity he did not 

 revert to Sinclair's teaching as to the limited use of ryegrass as 

 soon as the other grasses could be freely obtained. If Mr. de 



