GRASS. 



the com-fe of ciopning on arable land. In ail well culti- 

 vated dillrids, they, hov.evt r, form a ccnfiderable propor- 

 tion of the crops. The firft of the above is a moft invaluable 

 plant, whether it be mown and \ifed green, pallured, or 

 made into hay. By its long tap-roots it refifts the efieft 

 of excefiive drought on the dryell foils, and increafes 

 the quantity of vegetable mould in all. It will grow on 

 moft foils, but is not equally produftive ; and whether it be 

 mown and ufed in the green ftate, paftiired, or made, into 

 liay, it generally produces four or five times the quantity of 

 fodder that the fame land would have done with com- 

 mon grafles. Further, in good rotations, it -frequently 

 makes the fecond crop, in lieu of white corn mown once, and 

 the after -grafs eaten off with horfes, bealts, or llieep, and 

 the land fown with wheat. In that cafe, two pecks of the 

 bcft ray-grafs, mixed with fourteen pounds of the clover- 

 feed, fliould be fown upon an acre, which not only increafes 

 the quantity, but alfo greatly improves the quahty of the 

 hay. If the clover is for flail-feeding, the ray-grafs fliould 

 be omitted. But in poor light foils, the better way is 

 to take two or three crops of corn, and then to lay the land 

 down to reft, three, four, five, or fix years. In this cafe, 

 it is advifed that the farmer fliould fow the following feeds, 

 in thcfe proportions per acre : 



Names of Seeds. Quantities. 



Of Burnet - - 4 pounds 



— Cow red-clover - 4 ditto 



— Wliite clover - - 8 ditto 



— Trefoil - - - 4 ditto 



— Ray-grafs ... z pecks 



— Vernal grafs - - i ditto 



— Sheep's-fefcue grafs - 4 ditto 



— Crefted dog's-tail grafs - J ditto. 



" It is fuppoled, that by this management, the foil would 

 acquire a vaft increafe of vegetable mould, and, by the pafture 

 maintaining one-fourth more ftock than it did before, it 

 would be greatly charged with manure ; by which means 

 the"land would be kept in perpetual good condition : and, 

 when brought under tillage, produce one-fourth more corn 

 than it did under other circumftances." And it is remarked, 

 in the Norfolk Survey, that " Mr. P;irdis, of Eggmore, vv-as 

 recommended by a friend, whofe management he had feen 

 and. approved, to fow his feeds at twice : half of each fort 

 (white and red clover, and r;y) at the time of fo-.ving bar- 

 ley ; and the other half before the rollers in going over the 

 yoimg crop : and this pracuce he intends to purfue in fi- 

 ture. He thinks it will give them a better chance of fuc- 

 ceeding. He has 600 acres of feeds : he lows the great 

 quantity of 141b. an acre of white clover, 81b. of red, and 

 one bufliel of ray-grafs. The laft he efteems much in fpring ; 

 and, when an obfervation was made againft it, faid, that in 

 April and May he had three thoufand flieep that found the 

 excellence of it.'' This fhould be attended toby the farmer. 

 It is alfo further ftated, that, " in 1784, in regiftering tlie 

 hufbandry of that fpirited cultivator of Kolkham, it was 

 remarked, that ' thofe who have been converfant in the 

 huflsandry of old improved countries, know that a common 

 complaint is the failure of red-clover. It has been fown fo 

 repeat(;dly, that the land is faid to be furfcited with it. In 

 the fame diftri6t it comes to nothing on the old improved 

 lands, yet yields immenfe crops on any accidental fpot, 

 where never, or rarely, fown before.' The obfervation is fo 

 common, that no doubt can remain of the facl ; however, it 

 may be attributed to certain methods in management purfued 

 in this county. Peas, and taref had been tried as fubftitutcs, 

 but they are tdlage-cropsj and what theie thin foils, haraffcd 

 with the plough, want, is reft, Mr. Coke, it is added, 



turned his views to a different and better quarter, to other 

 artificial graffes, v.hich would anfwer the fame purpofe as 

 clover and ray-grafs. He had recommended to him, on a 

 former occafion, trefoil, ^\hite clover, cow-grafs, rib-grafs, 

 and burnet. Mr. Coke applied them with no inconfiderable 

 fagacity to the prefent purpofe, and, that the experiment ' 

 might not be delufive, tried them fpiriledly upon 30 acres in 

 the middle of a large piece, laid with clover and ray-grafs. 

 The quantities of feed he has found will vary according to 

 circumftances; but, in general, ' 



Names of Seeds. 



Of Cow-crafs 



— White clover 



— Rib - 



— Burnet 



— Trefoil - - 

 according to the price, and alio the intended duration of the 

 lay. The fuccefs of the firft trial induced him to lay down 

 a yet larger fpace the fecond year. And the tliird (with the 

 barley of the laft fpring), no fewer than 221 acres ; this is, 

 in truth, fays the writer, doing juftice to a new hufljandr^-, 

 Mr. Coke has found that thofe fe; ds fill the land completely 

 with plants, v\hich are abiding two and even three years : 

 and how much longer they may Inft, is more than he can pro- 

 nounce, as their appearance is yet as good as ever. The 

 author rode over all the pieces, and never faw a finer or more 

 regular plant than they exhibited. And he has, on feveral 

 occafions, remarked, that flieep give a preference to thefe 

 grafles, whenever fown in the fame field with clover and ray- 

 grafs." And it is added, that " in regard to the continuance 

 of thefe trials, fome of the paftures now remain, and are as 

 fine as the foil will yield: thick, clean, and fweet.' And 

 it is here remarked in regard to land being tired of this plant, 

 that the obfervation he made, " during nine years that he 

 was in the conftant habit of viewing the farm of Mr. Ar- 

 buthnot, in Surrey, merits foir.o attention. When he began 

 to farm, the land was fick of clover, infomuch, that it was 

 almoft fure to fail, from having been, perhaps for a century, 

 fown every four or five years. His friend adopted the courfc 

 of — I. Beans; 2. Wheat ; 3. Clover, in which it occurred 

 fence in three years, and the farmers predicted an abfolute 

 failure : he viewed tiiree courfes, and better crops, of pure 

 red clover, were never gained. He began with ploughing 

 treble the depth of that to which the land had been ufually 

 ftirred, and he manured very amply for every crop of beans, 

 partly with night-foil, from London. In what degree tlie 

 fuccefs arofe from depth of tillage, and what degree from a 

 variation in manuring, cannot be afcertained ; but the ex- 

 periment proved that thefe agents were equal to the cure of 

 the malady.'' It is alfo further noticed, that " fome farmer* 

 in Norfolk have moved out of the common fphere, asd 

 ventured to plough deeper than their predeceflbrs ; nor have 

 they found any inconvenience in fo doing. It merits confi- 

 deration, whether this practice will not prove in fome mea- 

 fure a remedy to the failure of clover. As to manuring, and 

 efpecially in great variations, the means are generally limited, 

 and a change ia this refpeft, however defirable, is rarely iri 

 their power " But, " the only effective remedy hitherto 

 prafti ed, is that of omitting clover altogether, for one or 

 two rounds, which points out the great importance of intro- 

 ducing as many new artificial graflfes as poflible." See ReJ 

 Clover. 



The red-cow clover is another plant of the cloyer kind, 

 which has been found very ufeful as an artificial grafs. Ac- 

 cording to Mr. Amos it is perennial, and grows naturally 

 in high chalky fields, and in gravelly fields with clay beneath. 

 In the moft improved part of the country, when the land is 



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