I CULTURAL PREPARATIONS 3 



method is not desirable, as it does not allow time for thorough tillage ; and it 

 is a better plan to take a part-fallow by paring the turf after the second 

 cutting, and some days later harrowing, manuring and ploughing the field. 

 Where paring is not practised, the first ploughing ought to be sufficiently deep 

 to bury the turf well ; and, as a general rule, paring and burning are only 

 advantageous when the pasture overlies a good depth of peaty or clay soil. 

 After successive crops of annual weeds have been killed by dragging and 

 scarifying, the land must be again manured, and ploughed up roughly in 

 autumn. If the turf be turned in at once after the hay crop, and the land 

 be heavily manured and sown with vetches or maize, the green fodder need 

 not be cut for 5 or 6 weeks, during which period the old turf rapidly decom- 

 poses, making the necessary subsequent tillage more easy of accomplishment. 

 Converting Old Leys. — When it is desired to convert a clover or 

 sainfoin ley into permanent pasture, the field must be heavily dragged with 

 harrows in autumn, a top-dressing of compost or rich manure being applied 

 in early winter as a preparation for an early sowing of strong-growing seeds. 



Preparatory Manuring 



Necessity for Manure. — Since the nutritive elements of top-dressings 

 applied to pastures are absorbed by the superficial layers of soil, it is obviously 

 impossible to supply fertilizers to lower depths after the pasture is once 

 formed without adopting the costly system of raising turves and burying dung 

 beneath them ; and as we cannot expect profitable returns year after year 

 without liberal manuring, sufficient should be applied when the land is 

 prepared to last the lower layers for a long period. 



Manure to Use. — Considering both the chemical constitution and 

 mechanical structure of soils generally, good farmyard manure produces and 

 preserves the physical conditions most favourable to the formation of 

 profitable pastures. For heavy land, long straw-containing qualities are most 

 to be desired, while light soil requires the shorter, decayed manure. 



Method of Application. — For spring sowings the best method is to 

 apply the manure immediately before the land is ploughed and laid up rough 

 for the winter,- since it then decomposes sufficiently in the intervening period 

 to provide suitable nourishment for the young plants. If manuring has to be 

 deferred until spring, it should be completed as early as possible, in order 

 that the land may be somewhat enriched before seed-time. 



B 2 



