190 Laying down Foul Land. 



Impoetanoe of Laying Down Foul Land at Two Opeea- 

 TiONS. — I have to record this year (1904) one important experience, 

 which confirms the opinion I have elsewhere expressed in favour 

 of laying down land to permanent pasture at two operations, 

 partly because if done at one the land can rarely be supplied 

 with sufficient humus, and partly because our soils are so filled 

 with the seeds of weeds and worthless grasses — notably Holcus 

 lanatus, or Yorkshire fog — that I do not think a thoroughly 

 clean pasture could be created at one operation. In confirmation 

 of this view, I may quote the case of the Island field. This was 

 sown in 1890 (with the little Countridge field, of which it 

 originally formed a part) with 14 lbs. cocksfoot, 5 of tall fescue, 

 3 of timothy, 3 of hard fescue, 3 of crested dogstail, | lb. each of 

 yarrow and poa fertUis, 2 of lucerne, and 2 each of aJsike, white, 

 and perennial red clover. In 1898 the field, less the Island 

 portion, which was then fenced off, was relaid with one of our 

 improved mixtures, including the deep-rooting plants. This 

 year both portions of the field were cut for hay, and though the 

 take of grass in the Island portion in 1890 was excellent, the 

 Holcus lanatus was so prevalent that the field at a distance 

 looked white, while the rest of the land, sown in 1898, showed 

 no signs of it, though, as we have seen, it had been laid down 

 six years previously — an ample time for Holcus lanatus to show 

 itself had it been there. These facts show how completely 

 our system of rotation springs and destroys weeds and worthless 

 grasses. 



The Agbeement of Plants and Tbees in Natube. — It is 

 well known that certain trees, shrubs and plants sometimes agree 

 with each other, sometimes disagree, and sometimes seem 

 indifferent as regards their neighbours. For instance, the coffee 

 tree, when grown as it is in most parts of India under the shade 

 of trees, is most particular as to its neighbours. Some trees are an 

 abomination to coffee, to others the coffee seems indifferent, to 

 others again it is markedly partial, and thrives under exceedingly. 

 The same point occurs in the case of combinations of plants in a 

 pasture, and it has been amply shown, for instance, that whUe 

 ryegrass is hostile to clover, other plants are favourable to it. 



