GRASS. 



much novelty in the fchome of draining, tlie writer i.^ of o))i- 

 nion, tliat very great merit is due to Kir. .Siilter, for the in- 

 troduftioii of vetclies, which he apprehends was never before 

 tried on palhire-grounds, or indeed on any ground whatever 

 unbroken by the pk)UJ,h. It certainly anfwers feveral ad- 

 mirable purpofes, one is, that it gives a profpeft every year 

 of a bulky crop of hay, wliicli otherwife niufl liave been 

 very fcanty. And being fown with oats, the vetches afford 

 that hovering kind of Ihade and proteftion to the youn^ 

 graffes in which they moll delight, 

 alfo worth more. 



Proiitu 



iS loads of hay, at 4/. 

 P'eed 



'3 



o 

 o 



£9,S 



It is alfo necedary that care be taken to kfcp grafs-lands 



' f 



'g 



i\g in a proper (late of production, by the judicio'is ufc t 



Theeddilh is of courfe top-drelfing, and by obfcrving fuitablc mctuodu of niowin' 

 and feeding them down by llock, and it becomes of conrje 



But he is not quite fure, whether Mr. Salter's experiment requilite in the view of keeping fuch lands in tlie moll pro- 



gave rife to the following practice, which he is informed per condition for the production of plentiful crops, as well 



daily gains ground. Where? the clover plants fall partially, as that of altering and improving tlie nature of the iicrbage, 



or by fpots, on a new layer, fpring vetches are often drill- to huve recourfe to the occalional aj)p!ication of manure ; 



rolled upon the furfico, not ploughed. Tlie few clover- as by this means the ftaple and depth of the vegetable 



plants are thus left to grow with tlie vetches, and both mould are not only much increafed, but l!ie land brought 



together, in due feafon, form nearly as good a fwath, as if into fuch a Hate of fertility, as tlitit it may aftcr\v;irds be 



the clover had nut died away. Mr. Rix is fo thoroughly kept up with much lefs e:;pence and trouble than before, 

 convinced of the uti'ity and advantage of the method he lias A late writer has ilated, that " it is a circumilanee 



■purfued, that he is now preparing a ftcoud meadow, Iving well known to grafs-famiers in the bed cultivated dillricts, 



at the foot of the one juil improved, for a hmilar procels that when lands of this fort are fulfered to get much out of 



of improvement. condition, it is a much more difBcult bufinefs to reftore 



In cafes where pa(lure-bnd can be fpared for mowing, them to the proper (late of produCtivenefs, than to prefervc 



Mr. Salter feems to be of opinion, that vetches may be them in it. Trom the conllant decompofition and decay of 



profitably employed, even a fecond year, U[)on new im- various vegetable materials on the furface of graf-land», 



proved meadows. He has liad fomc experience of fuch a "i^w portions of vegetable mould are conllantly added, that 



repeated trial, and the writer bcheves he thinks favourable improve the quahty of ti.e lands, and at the fa. '.e time afford 



of it. He dibbles the il-ed upon the unbroken furface, 

 after feeding it down as clofe as he can with flieep or other 

 ftock. 



It is ftated that the above meadow of Mr. Rix's can- 

 not be over-rated, if it be faid that it is, at this moment, 

 more worth thirty iliillings per acre to a tenant, than, in 

 its former Hate, it was eight {hillings the acre, 



" Debtor and CriiTitor Accounts of JlTr. Riv's JlfeaJotv, end- 

 ing at Michciclmas. 



1S06. 



363 of ooen drains, at g'l/. 

 173 under grains, at 6d. 

 100 alder faggots, laid in drains 

 Filling and Spreading loco loads of mould, at 

 2JJ-. per hundred . - - 



Seed. 



C CO. fp. tares ... 



6 bufhels of grey peas 



6 do. of oats ... 



2 do. of ray-grafs ... 



too pounds of Dutch clover 



Dibbling .... 



£. 



'4 

 9 

 5 



Hi 



ur es s I line. 



5 horfes 14 days, fetting about mould 

 4 do. dnli-roUing, 3 days 



2 do. bulhiiig and rolling in feeds, 3 days 



Men's Tiine. 



1 man driving team, 14 days 



3 m.tn drill-rolling, 3 days 

 I man bulliing, 2 days 



do. gathering llones, 2 days 



Total expence 



a more fuitable and fertile bed for the eltablilhment of the 

 different kinds of grafs-plnn:;. It is chiefly, perhaps, on 

 thele accounts that old grr.fs-lands are fuperior to new ones, 

 and it explains the reafon of the greater utility of earthy 

 compolls with dung in the latter than the former cafes. 

 H'/Wever, with refpeft to the moll proper periods of rrak- 

 ing fuch applications, there is much difference of opinion ; 

 but it fhould, probably, be regulated by circumllances ; 

 fuch as the Hate of the land in regard to drynefs, its fitua- 

 tion, the heat of the feafon, and its nature and condition 

 in refpeft to foil and fertility. Where the land is fuch as 

 not to admit the dung-cart in the early fpring-months, with- 

 out the danger of injuring the furface by poaching or 

 breaking the texture of the fward, the moll proper period 

 would feeRi to be in the beginning of the autumn, before 

 the heavy rains fall, as at this period the drefling mav be 

 L\id on with tlie greatell convenience and fafciv ; and from 

 the after-grafs being chiefly confumcd with the leall lofs 

 in that particular. It is, however, rjcommended to be 

 performed by fomc immediately after the land has be<'n 

 mown and cleared from the hay, in which method there may 

 be an advantage in fome cafes, as the growth of the after- 

 grafs may thereby be rendered more abundsnt." ]Vit, in 

 other refpecls, it has been obferved by the author of Prac- 

 tical .iVgriculture, that, ♦' it muil often be not only incon- 

 venient, but uneconomical, as» from its happening at a 

 feafon when much other bufinefs is to be performed, it can 

 fcldom be attended to in fuch a manner as is necedary ; and 

 when the feafon at this period is hot, and there is much fun. 

 as in general is the cafe, there mi. I be c>)nfiderable lof» 

 iullained in the extrication and diliipation of the fm.T and 

 more enriching particles, fuch as become more immediately 

 the food of plants, from their being in a condition nearly 

 fultablo for being abforbed and taken up by the roots of 

 the graffes. The extent of the lofs incurred in this way 

 is much more coniiderable than is commonly fuppofed, as 

 luull appear evident from the great exhalation and conllant 

 evaporation that is often kept up for many day?, or even 



weeks. 



