98 



PEEMANENT AND TEMPOEAEY PASTUEES. 



the drain on their resources is frequently repeated they gradually 

 dwindle away. So long as these grasses are mown early, or 

 grazed, they are perfectly perennial, as is conclusively proved by 

 their continued existence in some of the finest old pastures of 

 the kingdom where they have never been allowed to seed. To 

 manage any pasture in such a way as to exterminate part of its 

 most valuable and nutritious grasses is surely killing the goose 

 which lays the golden egg. And this is exactly what is done 

 by constant greed for the rick. Of course an early crop means 

 a smaller bulk of hay, but the quahty is higher than from a later 

 cutting,^ and the loss of bulk in the first instance results in a net 

 gain, for the aftermath will be the greater, and the pasture will 

 not be damaged for future seasons. Where grasses perish, the 

 gaps are almost certain to be filled up by worthless or noxious 

 forms of vegetation, and thus the herbage diminishes in value so 

 long as a false system of management is pursued. 



Another source of injury to pastures arises from the manner 

 in which grazing is conducted. It should not be necessary to 

 repeat so trite a remark as that land is never enriched by the 

 droppings of cattle fed exclusively upon its herbage, but, on the 

 contrary, must by degrees become the poorer for supporting the 

 lives and increasing the weight of the animals which graze upon 

 it. In milk and flesh the land yields its produce in highly concen- 

 trated forms, and without external aid the process of exhaustion 

 must of necessity go on. But when the herbage consumed is sup- 

 plemented with cake, corn, roots, hay, or other extraneous food, 



^ Warrington gives the following analyses, made in each case after tlie fodder had 

 been dried at 212° F., to show the comparative feeding value of three crops of grass 

 taken from the same field at different dates. The first cutting was made when the 

 herhage was fit for feeding ofi', the second at the time the crop was in good condition for 

 hay, and the third when it was past its prime, and had become somewhat coarse and 

 long in stem, but stUl was well harvested. 



