IMMEDIATE AFTEB-MANAGEMENT OF NEW PASTUEES. 103 



mental grass plots will adequately realise the importance of 

 applying suitable manures, not merely for the purpose of aug- 

 menting the crop, but as a means of maintaining or destroying 

 some of the grasses. 



But manuring is not the only way of effecting changes in 

 the character of a plant of grass. Some varieties are specially 

 adapted for grazing, others for making into hay. A fine old 

 pasture which has been fed for many years will often yield a 

 miserable crop of hay, and may be utterly ruined by being 

 mown for several consecutive seasons. Conversely, a mea- 

 dow which has been mown for years and kept in condition by 

 annual top-dressings may prove altogether unsatisfactory as a 

 pasture. Grazing gives all varieties of grasses, except a few 

 which will not bear treading, a full chance of existence ; while 

 haying fosters the growth of those grasses which come to matu- 

 rity at a particular period of the year. Some of the most 

 valuable pasture grasses are often entirely absent from good 

 old meadow land. It is therefore desirable as far as possible 

 to reserve meadow land exclusively for mowing, and pasture 

 land for grazing. 



On the following page is a statement showing the weights of 

 hay obtained from a young pasture under different manures in 

 successive seasons. 



