146 Experiences up to the end of October, 1904. 



In both cases the pasture was a failure. In 1895 I again laid it clown 

 to permanent pasture. The field, now five years old, has been 

 throughout a complete success. This I attribute to the deep-rooting 

 plants usedi and especially the chicory, which was a very large 

 crop, and which, as described at page 82, went straight down 

 into the subsoil, after penetrating the very hard pan which lay 

 below the ploughing depth. From the facts connected with this 

 field previous to my occupation of it, and which I have personally 

 ascertained from the former tenant, I have reason to surmise that the 

 failure of land to grow grass and clover well, either when in rotation 

 husbandry or being laid down to permanent pasture, must often be 

 owing to hard pans below the ploughing depth, and this, of course, 

 makes it the more advisable that plants like chicory and burnet, 

 which can penetrate the hardest pans (vide page 82), should be freely 

 used. 



But besides the evils arising from hard pans, there is the fact 

 that our soils are not kept sufficiently open owing to the deficiency of 

 humus in the land, and hence the roots cannot readily traverse the 

 soil, which, as Dr. Voelcker has shown, often contains enough plant 

 food if it were fully available for the use of the plant. If, then, you 

 do not give the plant a soil well opened up, and kept open by humus, 

 you must spend more money in manure. In other words, as far as 

 the plant is concerned, a small quantity of manure in an open soil is 

 of more practical value than a, much larger quantity of manure in a 

 soil of inferior physical condition. There are three losses entailed by 

 inferior physical conditions of soil— (1) That tlie plant is less able to 

 contend with adverse seasons ; (2) that the expense of manurial 

 application must be greater ; and that (3) much of the manure that 

 is applied in excess of the requirements of the plants will be lost by 

 waste or downward percolation, while much of it is liable to enter 

 into insoluble compounds in the soil, as, for instance, phosphates of 

 alumina and iron. 



Impm-taiict of Drought-resisting Plants. — The severe droughts of 

 1898-99 proved the great value of the mixtures used, as in the former 

 year we had about three and in the latter two tons of hay an acre. 

 In 1899 the results were most remarkable, as the land was exposed, 

 light, and shallow. We were indebted for the bulk of the crop to the 

 kidney vetch and clover (the late-fiowering rod clover used stands 

 drought in a wonderful way), and especially to the former. The field 

 (vide remarks on kidney vetch) was a veritable oasis surrounded by a 

 girdle of scorched hills, and with any mixture ordinarily used the 

 crop must have been a disastrous failure. 



Aftermath must he Lightly Grazed. — The Inner Kaimrig (sown in 

 1895) gave 2 tons of hay an acre, which is a heavy crop, considering 

 that it is the poorest field on the farm, and grazed well till it was 

 ploughed up at end of 1899. Bowmontside field, sown in 1897, gave 

 in 1898 about 3 tons an acre of hay. It is one of the best fields of the 



