Dr. Vod.eker's Notes. 207 



rrmlation of acid matter alone coarse and inferior grasses would 

 grow, thrive for a time, and then die down, in part or whole, 

 adding further to the matting of dead or dying roots. On the 

 five-year-old pasture, on the contrary, there is not this stagna- 

 tion : the vegetable matter is, by aeration, influence of drainage, 

 cultivation, &c., brought into assimilable, instead of unhealthy, 

 condition, and soil formation, instead of humus accumulation, is 

 the result. 



These points, to my mind, bear strong evidence to the 

 superiority of the newer pasture, and to the efficacy of the system 

 which Mr. EUiot pm'sues. 



J. A. VOELOKEE. 



November, 1900. 



Second Note by Dr. Voblckbr. 



In November, 1900, 1 appended to Mr. EUiot's new edition of 

 his book, " The Agricultural Changes required by these Times," 

 a note on the examination of some soils from the CHfton-on- 

 Bowmont farm. In these I made a comparison between an old 

 hiU-side Cheviot turf and an adjoining one laid down five years 

 previously with Mr. Elliot's mixtures. The general bearing of the 

 observations and analyses was to show that, though the old turf 

 had accumulated rather more vegetable matter and nitrogen, yet 

 this was confined practically to the very top portion, which con- 

 sisted of a matting of roots and rootlets, and which held moisture 

 to a considerable extent, but did not aUow of its percolation to the 

 lower layers, or the ready penetration of the roots of the grasses 

 into the subsoil. 



Since that time I have had under observation other fields at 

 CHfton-on-Bowmont laid down by Mr. EUiott, and these I have 

 visited regularly, watching their progress as compared with that 

 of the old turf. The question arose in this connection whether, 

 as the pasture goes on from year to year, and as it improves (as 

 is quite clear to any one having it, as I did, under regular obser- 

 vation) the soil itself becomes deprived of, or else is enriched in, 

 organic matter and nitrogen. For the purpose of ascertaining 



