24 PERMANENT AND TEMPOEARY PASTURES. 



that the seeds of that pest may have been sown with an impure 

 sample of it. 



At the present time Cocksfoot is the hero among grasses. 

 Instead of being reserved for those soils and purposes for which it 

 possesses an undoubted value, it is recommended as useful for the 

 production of high-class hay and for sowing on some geological 

 formations for which it is totally unsuited. I have seen pastures 

 literally ruined by the introduction of Cocksfoot. Alternate leys 

 on the Chiltern Hills, where Eye Grass and Clover had previously 

 answered well, have, by the introduction of Cocksfoot, yielded 

 almost unsaleable hay, and, having once been allowed to seed, the 

 Cocksfoot has proved a pest difficult of eradication. Those who 

 are familiar with the art of forestry are well aware that it would 

 be futile to attempt to grow elm timber on sandy land, or larch 

 on land which is only suitable for Scotch fir. And if an opinion 

 were promulgated that any single kind of timber should be grown 

 upon every estate in the three kingdoms, it would excite the 

 ridicule of the experts in that profession. Had the laying down 

 of grass received the careful attention which has been devoted 

 to forestry, it would be considered just as unreasonable to 

 sow Cocksfoot on all soils and for all purposes, as it would to 

 recommend elm trees to be planted everywhere. 



The sowing of Poas has been condemned because it hap- 

 pened that some varieties of this grass were indigenous where 

 the experiment was made. But a New England farmer will not 

 hesitate to sow Poa pratensis alone, and long experience has 

 proved that he does not prize this grass too highly. On the other 

 hand, in certain districts of New Zealand, the offer of seed would 

 only provoke an expression of scorn. Surely such a widely dif- 

 ferent estimate of the vahie of a single variety may well suggest 

 a doubt as to the universal adaptation of any one kind of grass 

 to all soils and districts. Indeed, the whole question is one of 

 experience, and I am well persuaded that those who possess the 

 largest knowledge, drawn from the widest sources, will concur 

 in the opinion that each individual case should be considered 



