102 PERMANENT AND TEMPORARY PASTURES. 



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. 



In a subsequent chapter reference is made to feeding an old 

 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 off until about eighteen months after sowing, obviously 

 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 and my own experiments at Kidmore 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 established, 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 por- 

 tions, and each portion is subjected to distinct and continuous 

 treatment for several successive years, a decided difference in the 

 herbage of the several parts will become manifest. Certain manures 

 encourage the growth of certain grasses, and indirectly effect the 

 destruction of those species which are not benefited, by enabling 

 stronger neighbours to choke them. Only those who have care- 

 fully observed the results, obtained in Sir J. B. Lawes's expefi- 



