THE MANAGiEMENT OP .OLD GBAS8 LAND. 109 



A further means of deteriorating grass land is the prac- 

 tice of allowing pastures reserved especially for horned cattle to 

 •be overstocked. When an ox-pasture is eaten down so bare 

 as to allow the roots of the more succulent grasses to become 

 scorched, it is a serious injury not only for that year's feed 

 but for several subsequent seasons. In ono of the recent hot 

 summers I hoped by a liberal allowance of cake to make a 

 pasture carry more stock than the crop justified, and the result 

 was disastrous to the plant. On the other hand, an established 

 sheep pasture cannot well be cropped too close to maintain 

 constant growth of the sweet fine herbage of which it should 

 consist. 



Wide-spread indifference prevails as to the predominance of 

 such weeds as cowslips, primroses, orchids, daisies, and plantains, 

 although these plants frequently show that the soil is in such a 

 condition as to be incapable of maintaining nourishing herbage. 

 The mere presence of these weeds and of barley and brome 

 grasses is an evil in itself, and they indicate that the land is 

 starved, just as tussock grass, rushes, and sedges prove the need 

 of drainage. Thistles, docks, coltsfoot, and other large weeds 

 may also abound, and they cannot be eradicated without the 

 constant use of the scythe and spud. In a foul pasture the weeds 

 are generally so mixed up with what good herbage there may be, 

 that they can only be improved out of existence as better grasses 

 are induced to take their places. A heavy dressing of salt ap- 

 plied, after weeds have been cut will kill a lot of them, and an 

 application of gas-lime has been known to effect a surprising 

 change in the herbage of an inferior pasture. The folding, of 

 sheep thickly will also produce marked benefit on poor upland 

 grass if the animals are at the same time fed with corn or cake. 

 They should be penned on the ground long enough to make it 

 as brown as a fallow, and then many weeds will be killed outright. 

 This practice is very different in its effects from that of giving 

 sheep the run of the land. Whatever discourages the growth of 

 rough herbage encourages that which is better. On the other 



