PERMANENT PASTURES. 391 



the plan of grazing them in succession will also tend 

 to secure more of uniformity in the grazing. 



While the practice of mulching permanent pastures 

 with dressings of farm yard manure is not a good one, 

 unless the manure is so fermented that the weed seeds 

 in it are, in the main, destroyed, that of feeding soil- 

 ing food on these pastures is beneficial where the work 

 is judiciously done. The food thus fed should be 

 strewn on fresh ground every time that it is fed uniil 

 ■the pasture is gone over with a view to secure an even 

 distribution in the droppings of the animals. 



Every care should be exercised to keep weeds out of 

 permanent pastures. This is best prevented by prop- 

 erly cleaning the soil before laying them down. Some 

 forms of noxious weed life will gradually disappear 

 as the grass plants take possession of the soil. This 

 is true of nearly all kinds of annuals and of many bi- 

 ennials. It is different with many perennials especially 

 those which multiply chiefly from underground stems ; 

 among the most persistent growers in these pastures are 

 the oxeye daisy {Leucanthemum vulgare), the Canadian 

 ihistle (Cirsium arvense) and iron weed (^Vernonia no- 

 cehoracensis). On stiff clays Canada thistles will ulti- 

 mately disappear where the grazing is close and con- 

 tinued for successive years, but on the other soils they 

 will rather increase; oxeye daisies are also likely to 

 increase. The same is true of ironweed and some other 

 weeds unless cut by the mower, at least once a year, 

 and grazed closely with sheep early in the season. If 

 annuals and biennials are not allowed to blossom in 

 such pastures^ thej will soon disappear. When peren- 



