118 PEEMANBNT AND TEMPOEAEY PASTUEES. 



a prevalent opinion that the lattermath is of higher quahty than 

 the first cut. 



The old Welsh system of ' fogging,' or allowing the hay crop 

 to cure itself, uncut, in the open fields, demands but brief notice 

 here, and I cannot speak from personal experience of the practice. 

 It appears to be similar to the method pursued on the Eocky 

 Mountains, but there it is supposed to be possible only "at great 

 altitudes. I understand that the fields are fed off by winter 

 stock early in the spring up to the end of April ; then the grass 

 is laid in as if for hay, but is left uncut all the summer, and 

 stock are not permitted to graze until December. It is stated that 

 cows feeding on the dry grass give as good butter as in the spring 

 of the year ; that the frost makes the grass sweet ; and that the 

 herbage shoots very much earher in the following spring, because 

 it is protected by the brown growth of the previous year ; also 

 that when mixed with the old grass it is much more wholesome 

 and sustaining food. The inducement to adopt this system is 

 that all expense and anxiety of haymaking are avoided. Some 

 farmers actually let their grass fields stand untouched from May 

 until February or March of the following year, when the stock 

 are turned out of doors. No doubt the practice supplies a great 

 deal of food at a time of year when it is most scarce, and this 

 food is specially prized for the early-calving cows. The whole 

 system is, of course, contrary to all the recognised canons by 

 which grass land is managed in other parts of the country. 



