48 Burnet. 



J . 



should not recommend it — ^bnt this is a point that 

 requires investigation. In the Bank field we found that 

 by stocking in spring from the first week in April to the 

 20th May, eating the pasture quite bare, and then 

 shutting up the field for hay, the chicory plant was so 

 far suppressed that no seeding stems appeared ; in fact, 

 the plant was so suppressed as not to cause any objection 

 as regards the hay crop. 



The advantages of chicory in pasture are very great, 

 and there are no disadvantages. The root goes straight 

 down into the soil (in five months I have traced it to 

 22 inches, and in fifteen months to about 30 inches or 

 more), and the leaves go straight up. The plant there- 

 fore neither robs the surface soil nor interferes with the 

 plants in its neighbourhood, which fiourish right up to 

 the stems of the chicory. All stock are fond of the 

 plant, and my keeper informs me that hares eat it more 

 readily than any other plant in the pasture. It yields a 

 large supply of food. It is evident that with such plants 

 as chicory and bumet the available* area of soil must be 

 very largely increased, and their use in a field is, practi- 

 cally speaking, an absolute addition to its acreage. 

 (Later information respecting chicory will be found in 

 Chapter VI. and Appendix III.) 



Let us now turn to another plant, which, from its 

 deep-rooting, drought-resisting, and disease-preventive 

 qualities, for sheep is of evident importance, and see 

 what Arthur Young has to tell us about it. 



Burnet (Poterium sanguisorba), we are told by Young, 

 will do on any land, but it thrives best on that which 

 is dry. It is more to be recommended on a sheep 

 walk, and is not only good for spring feed, but as a 

 summer pasture. For the latter it should be kept con- 

 stantly pared down close, in which management it grows 

 very fast. An experiment by Mr. Anderson is quoted, 

 which shows that on February 14th it was 3 inches 

 high, and it was grazed at intervals every month up to 

 September 29th, when the total growth was 72 inches. 



