PASTURES AND PASTURE PLANTS 



CHAPTER I 

 CULTURAL PREPARATIONS 



Soil 



Soil Requirements. — Generally speaking, heavy loams and most clays 

 are especially adapted for the production of profitable pastures ; but good 

 results can be obtained by sowing judiciously composed mixtures of seeds on 

 almost any drained lands, excepting loose sand and poor gravels, provided 

 they be well prepared and in fertile condition. The absolute essentials for 

 the success of a pasture are good drainage, thorough tillage, abundant 

 manuring and freedom from noxious weeds. 



Preparatory Draining 



Necessity for Drainage. — As few fodder plants endure stagnant water, 

 drainage must be considered a necessary preliminary to forming pastures on 

 all clay or peat soils in which the best natural grasses do not thrive : for no 

 matter what expense be incurred in the seeding and after-management of a 

 more or less sodden pasture, sooner or later the more nutritive and produc- 

 tive plants will be replaced with worthless sedges, mosses, &c. 



The presence of stagnant water makes the land very cold by evaporatw, 

 and so neutralizes the beneficial influence of solar heat on vegetation, 

 besides preventing the necessary percolation of air and water in the soil. As 

 a consequence, vegetation starts late in spring and becomes dormant early in 

 water-logged soils, on which, too, the treading of cattle is most injurious to 

 the young shoots of pasture plants. 



In brief, it is absolutely essential to the well-being of the best pasture 

 plants that the soil in which they grow should not be too wet. 



The Drains. — The length and depth of the drains, as well as the size 

 and nearness of the pipes, are dependent on local peculiarities of soil, climate, 

 &c. ; but it is necessary that each should have a good fall, and not be made 

 longer than is absolutely required. All small branch pipes must be obliquely 

 jointed to the main drains, and not carried into them at right angles. The 

 usual depth is about 3 feet, the rows of pipes being laid some 15 feet apart. 

 The outlets need examining regularly and frequently. 



