PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. 



The call of my publishers for a second edition of this work, which is not yet a twelve- 

 month old, came upon me as an agreeable surprise. 



I have to thank many reviewers who have noticed my book for their expressions of 

 appreciation and approval. 



No pains have been spared in the second edition to bring the facts and figures up to 

 date, and a few notes will be found here and there throughout the volume which appeared 

 to be called for, as an acknowledgment of many letters received from eminent authorities 

 confirmatory of some of the views which I had advanced. 



This new edition also affords me the further advantage of putting before my readers a 

 more complete series of analyses of the various grasses and clovers than there was time for 

 Dr. VoELCKEE to prepare for the first edition. 



MARTIN J. SUTTON. 

 Reading : January 1, 1887. 



PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. 



A SHOET PAPEE On 'Permanent Pastures,' written by my Father at the desire of the late 

 Mr. Philip Ptjsbt, appeared in the Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, 

 vol. xxii., part ii. By special permission this paper was afterwards published as a pamphlet, 

 and, having run through eleven editions, the duty of re-editing it fell to me in 1880. At my 

 father's request I revised and enlarged the work ; and two editions, numbering together 

 twenty thousand copies, have since been disposed of. 



The laying down of land to grass is now a question vital to the interests of agriculture ; 

 and it has appeared to me that, instead of further enlarging the pamphlet, a more compre- 

 hensive treatment of the subject is necessary. 



In preparing this volume I have derived valuable assistance from information most 

 readily afforded on certain special subjects by Mr. W. Caektjthees, the accomplished 

 Botanist to the Royal Agricultural Society of England. 



I have found of great practical value the record of ' Agricultural, Botanical, and 

 Chemical Results of Experiments on the Mixed Herbage of Permanent Meadows,' compiled 

 jointly by Sir J. B. Lawes, Bart., Dr. J. H. Gilbbet, and Dr. Maxwell T. Masters, 

 which contains the results of minute and painstaking observations extending over a period 

 of twenty years. I wish further to thank Dr. Mastbbs for his kindness in verifying the 

 accuracy of the botanical descriptions of the several grasses which appear at pages 130-162. 

 My acknowledgments are also due to Mr. J. Gilbbet Bakbe, of the Royal Herbarium, Kew, 

 for information which he has freely given. 



To Dr. Stbblbe, the eminent Swiss authority on agricultural grasses, and to Dr. 

 Geoege Vabby, Botanist to the Department of Agriculture, Washington, U.S.A., I am 

 indebted for most interesting details concerning graisses in Europe and America. 



My old and lamented friend, the late Professor Buckman, was ever ready to give me 

 the benefit of his wide experience, and I prize his opinions on many of the grasses used in 

 agriculture as the conclusions of a practical farmer as well as botanist. 



I feel a special pleasure in acknowledging the great services rendered me by Dr. J. 

 Augustus Voblckbe, in making a series of chemical analyses of agricultural grasses 

 expressly for this book. These analyses will be found at pages 130 to 174. They are of a 

 more exhaustive and practical character than any which have previously been published, 

 and, with the report on page 128, will be of considerable interest to scientific agriculturists. 



Finally, I have had the advantage of drawing upon my father's experience of over fifty 

 years in laying down land in every county, and almost in every parish, of the kingdom, as 

 well as large tracts in the Colonies. 



This book does not profess to be a standard authority on British Grasses. My aim has 

 been to show the relative agricultural value of varieties upon which I have personally 

 experimented. 



For any omissions that may be detected, perhaps I may be allowed to plead that the 

 work has been written in brief moments snatched at intervals from an absorbing business. 



MARTIN J. SUTTON. 

 Keadikg ; February 1, 1886. 



