And its Excessive Use. 79 



" In 1825, -when Sinclair had finished his great experimental 

 work fot the Duke of Bedford, and had published the second 

 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, and no doubt studied the subject of the gi:asses 

 there, under Mr. Sinclair. 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, Vol. IV., 1834 (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 diflficult 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 lbs. to 30 lbs. 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 of ' Hortus 

 trramineus Wobumensis,' 2nd edition, 1825, Sinclair gives his 

 selection of seeds for permanent pasture, and although there is 

 a certain vagueness, on accoimt 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 in 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 rye- 

 grass, and the teaching of this work was adopted by the 

 seedsmen of Great Britain without 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 for three years 

 warehouse manager in the grass seed department of Lawsons', 

 and is consequently 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 lyegrass as 

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



