94 PERMANENT AND TEMPOEAEY PASTUEES. 



a new or an old pasture on that principle deserves to find it 

 deteriorate in quantity and in quality too. Liberties of this kind 

 are sometimes taken with a rich old pasture, and the injury may 

 not at once be apparent ; but it is most unreasonable to expect 

 that a young pasture will become established under the starving 

 system and at the same time yield heavy crops. 



One cause of the early deterioration of some new pastures 

 is no doubt traceable to grave faults in the prescription of the 

 grasses sown. Too many farmers are content if they can only 

 see ' something green,' without bestowing a thought as to whether 

 the ' something ' is good or bad. So long as men will only pay 

 about half the value of a first-class prescription of permanent 

 grasses and clovers, I suppose dealers will be found who are 

 prepared to supply so-called permanent mixtures consisting 

 mainly of annual varieties of Eye Grass, Yorkshire Fog, Tus- 

 sock Grass, and other cheap seeds utterly unsuitable for the 

 purpose. 



Eeference has incidentally been made to feeding a pasture by 

 supplying the animals upon it with cake, and there is no better 

 means of enriching the land. But if the plant cannot be safely 

 fed ofi" until about eighteen months after sowing, it is obvious 

 that some other means of stimulating the pasture must be adopted, 

 and this is why I strongly advise a top-dressing of farm-yard 

 manure after corn is carried, or an apphcation of artificial manure 

 in spring. 



The Eothamstead experiments have demonstrated a fact 

 which I am anxious to emphasise. After every care has been 

 exercised in selecting suitable grasses and clovers and a plant 

 has been estabhshed, the herbage of any piece of grass will 

 eventually depend on the after-management. If a field which 

 has been judiciously sown be divided into several portions, and 

 each portion is subjected to distinct and continuous treatment 

 for several successive years, a decided dilFerence in the herbage 

 of the several parts will become manifest. Certain manures 

 encourage the growth of certain grasses, and indirectly effect the 



