Cultivating and Fertilizing Agents. 27 



soon loses whatever physical condition has been im- 

 parted by tillage, I have now reason to think, from my 

 own practical experience, that it is decidedly best to lay 

 down permanently after first of all growing a turf 

 mainly composed of deep-rooting plants, and plants 

 which leave much vegetable matter in the soil. For I 

 have found in the case of alluvial flats containing rather 

 heavy land that, after having laid down the land and left 

 it in grass for about eight or ten years, we have, on 

 again ploughing up and laying down, after a course of 

 crops, had by far the most successful takes of grass that 

 I have ever seen. There were two evident reasons for 

 this favourable result. The first was that the soil Avas 

 well permeated with vegetable matter, and the second 

 that, being so, a thoroughly satisfactory and well aerated 

 bed was provided for the springing of the seed, and the 

 subsequent growth of the young plants. And in the 

 cases previously alluded to, I am satisfied that a still 

 better result would have been obtained had I, when first 

 laying down the land in question, been acquainted with 

 the deep-rooting chicory, burnet, and kidney vetch, and 

 the advantage of using, from a vegetable-matter-creating 

 point of view, a large amount of cocksfoot and yarrow. 

 It may be urgdd that the process would be a costly and 

 tedious one, and with the old system of laying down with 

 a large proportion of ryegrass, which entailed a falling 

 off of the pasture in the fourth year, this would have 

 undoubtedly been the case ; but, with our recent experi- 

 ence here, I have found that land of tough quality, and 

 deficient in vegetable matter, may be loosened, amelio- 

 rated with vegetable matter, and deeply cultivated with 

 the agency of roots in about three or four years ; and 

 then, after our usual four-course rotation of cereal and 

 root crops, laid down to permanent pasture with satis- 

 factory results. Having thus dwelt upon the importance 

 of disintegrating the soil, and permeating it thoroughly 

 with vegetable matter, before laying it down to per- 

 manent pasture, I now propose to allude to the equal, 



