THE MANAGEMENT OF OLD GEAS8 LAND. 97 



the grass lands of this country are now in a much more deplor- 

 able condition than they were at the time Mr. Thompson wrote. 

 There is not the least exaggeration in saying that at the present 

 moment thousands of low-lying meadows and upland pastures are 

 not yielding half the produce which could be obtained from the 

 land were it in better heart. These pastures grow inferior hay 

 and little of it, the production of milk is restricted, and the 

 capacity for fattening stock is diminished. The result is an 

 enormous national loss, and the truth must be told that this loss 

 is almost entirely avoidable. The prime cause is negligence, be- 

 gotten of the mistaken notion that a pasture is self-supporting. 

 There is a very general assumption that the owners and occupiers 

 of grass lands are not only reheved from the anxiety and expense 

 of arable tillage, but that they are under little or no obligation to 

 make any return to the soil for all that may be taken from it in 

 the form of hay, milk, or meat. I propose to specify some of the 

 influences which have reduced many English pastures to their 

 present unsatisfactory state, and to suggest means of restoring 

 them to fertility. 



One of the principal causes is the practice of taking hay 

 crops for several successive years without giving any adequate 

 return in manure. The necessity for treating arable land hber- 

 ally is never disputed for a moment. Yet the arable land has the 

 advantage of being constantly broken up and enriched by rain, 

 air, and other of Nature's fertilising agencies; while a pasture is, 

 by its fixed condition, debarred from the benefit of all cultural 

 operations, except the use of the harrow and roller. If pro- 

 perly drained, grass land can generally be maintained in the full 

 tide of fertility by judicious manuring alone, but this is often 

 negligently or wilfully withheld. 



Again, immense damage is done to some pastures by cutting 

 the crops for hay very late in the season. Many of the grasses 

 have time to form and ripen their seeds, and nothing exhausts 

 plants so much. Some of the finer grasses cannot safely be taxed 

 in this way. They may endure the ordeal once or twice, but if 



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