Experiences up to the end of October, 1904. 143 



a mixture of perennial ryegrass and clovers — 47 lb. seeds costing 

 14s 6d per acre, moderately satisfactory ; (6) from Plot V., a mixture 

 of permanent grasses and clovers— .38 lb. seeds costing 45s 9d, 

 moderately satisfactory; (c) from Plot VII. same as Plot V., but 

 sainfoin in place of clovers — 50 lb. seeds costing 46s, not satisfactory ; 

 (d) Plot VIII. sown with Elliot's 1895 mixture— 45i lb. seeds costing 

 39s 6d, most satisfactory. On the poor clay soil of Abbotsley eight 

 different mixtures have been tried, and at the present time Elliot's 

 is much the most promising. The soil is now evenly covered with 

 herbage, which looks as if it would be permanent. None of the 

 other mixtures have, so far, produced a close turf." 



June, 1904. 



" Set of seven turfs from Abbotsley, Hunts, showing the pastures 

 produced in the fourth season by various mixtures of seeds sown in 

 1900, viz. : — 1, Mixture of ryegrass and clovers, costing 14s 6d per 

 acre ; 2, mixture of perennial ryegrass and the chief pasture grasses 

 and clovers, costing 28s per acre ; 3, a mixture of the chief pasture 

 grasses and clovers, without perennial ryegrass, costing 30s 6d per 

 acre ; 4, one of Elliot's special mixtures, costing 39s 6d per acre. 

 All the above manured with 10 cwt. basic slag per acre in autumn 

 1900. No., 4 represents much the best of the pastures." 



No. 4 mixture was that used by Mr Elliot in 1895 for laying 

 down 25 acres poor land, and now in the fourth season. The turf 

 from this mixture now exhibited is labelled as follows : — " Much the 

 best of the pastures, a close even sward, closely grazed by stock." 



Mixture of Drought-redsting Plants for Bare Rochy Surfaces. — 

 The reader will remember that (vide page 56) Arthur Young has 

 recommended for chalk soil a mixture of yarrow, burnet, trefoil, 

 white clover, and chicory, so that the pasture would be formed of 

 plants not one of which is a grass plant. On full consideration, I 

 think it probable that Arthur Young is quite right in limiting his 

 selection for thin lands to plants that he was sure would flourish on 

 them, and as there are often, on hill lands especially, gravelly slopes 

 of thin soil, on which grasses at once dry up in a drought, I have 

 corresponded with Mr. James Hunter as to the proportions for a 

 mixture composed entirely of drought-resisting plants other than 

 grass, and he has sent me the following mixture, to which, however, 

 he has added one grass. The mixture is as follows :— 



Total, 30 lb. per acre. 

 Such a mixture might be sown on the steep, gravelly banks of a field, 

 and the remainder of the land sown with whatever mixture was most 

 suitable. 



Two acres of the Sheerbrough field, where the soil is shallowly 



