GRASS. 



kind, that may he made life of witli much advantagf 

 as a top-di-eding on grafs-lanJs ; but as its operation is 

 Klow, it cannot be repeated at (hort intervals, except when 

 ■employed in tlie (late of a compoil with dung-woollen rags, 

 ■n-hich, rendered fmall by being chopped into pieces, may be 

 laid on land in the ilate of fward ; but as they require <t 

 confiderable length of time to fink down and become mixed 

 'with the foil, fo as to be well covered by the gi'afs, they can- 

 Hot be repeated at flmrt intervals. After tliey have bren fully 

 incorporated with the land, their beneficial effects are conli- 

 derable,'' as have been fully fhewn in the trials of different 

 ^rafs-farmers : and there are various other matters that are oc- 

 cafionally applied as top-dreflings on grats-lands ; fuch as liine 

 in combination witli rich vegetable earth or peat, the allies 

 derived from the combuftion of peaty fublbmces, coal-alhes, 

 malt, dull, and foot. Moll of thefe have been made ufe of 

 with good effeils when thinly Ipread out over the furface 

 fwards of lands in the ftate of grafs. The three lall have 

 been found to produce the bed effecls in being difperfed 

 over the new lays of the artificial grafs kinds. All appli- 

 cations of this fort (liould be applied in February, being 

 fpread over the furface as evenly as polhble. " If it can be 

 done before a Ihower of rain, it will be the better, as it is of 

 advantage to have them carried down to the roots of the 

 grafles as foon as porfiblc after they are laid upon the land." 

 But fome advife, in the " management of purchafed manures, 

 that experiments fliould be formed for a year or two, before 

 the praAice is cxtendi'd, to fee which, at a given price, will 

 fuit the land bed. Without this precaution, a farmer may 

 probably expend large fums of money to little purpofe. 

 Nor Ihould he trull to the mere appearance of the effecl foon 

 after the man iring'; for fome ot them, particularly foot and 

 nialt-dud, will fliew themfelves after the firft heavy diowers, 

 in a filler green than the red of the field ; but the proof of 

 the effecl does not anfe from fine gi-eens, but from weiglit of 

 hay : for it has been found from experience, that the latter 

 is not always an attendant on the former. Contiguous half- 

 acres, or roods, diould be marked out, the prices of the ma- 

 mires calculated, and on each piece a feparate one fpread, all 

 to the. amount of 20^. an acre, for indance. At hay-time, 

 the crops (liould. be weighed. It will then be known which 

 tnanure, at the given prices, fuits the foil bed. This know- 

 led^e will prove true e.Kperienee, and a vjry difierei.t guide 

 fruin general ideas." 



And here is fiill another circumdance neceffary to be at- 

 tended to in putting manure upon lands of this kind, which 

 is not to fuffer too much to be placed out in any. of tlie 

 hea^is, bift to have them fet out as much as pofiible in mode- 

 rate fized portions, and " at regular didances from heap to 

 heap ; as, where the contrary is the cafe, it not only takes 

 up more time, and caufes much more trouble' to the labourer 

 in fpreading them, but does not admit of the work being 

 performed in fo regular or fo exacl a manner. Befides, when 

 the heaps are let out too large, much injury is done to the 

 <i-rafs-p)ants on the furface where, they (lood, if not foon 

 fpread out, which diould always be the cafe, in the quickell 

 manner.'' 



It is alfo of much confequence, in the execution ot this 

 br.iiiicfs, to have convenient carts for tlie purpole, which, in 

 ifeneral, are thofe of the fingle-horle khid 



Some care is likewife neeelfary in the fcaling or " fprcad- 

 inT-out all forts of top-drelliiii.''S on gra(s-lands, to (ee that the 

 vvorkbe performed in anexaCl and even manner, and that all the 

 clods and lumps be well broken down and perfecily reduced 

 h\ beating with the fork or di'ovel. If poifible, a dry fealon 

 ihould be cliofen for this fort of bufmefs, as, under fuch cir- 

 iriim'.lances, it can be executed in the mod regular iiiid exad 

 Vox. XVI. 



manner ; as when the weather is net, it is an operation that 

 can never be well performed, as the materials clog round th- 

 feet and implements of the workman, and can never be effrc- 

 tually feparated or divided fo us to be fpread out with thr 

 necetfary degree of evenncfs." It has been already noticed, 

 tiiat " after the heaps Iiave been fet out, they ftiould not b** 

 fuffered to remain fo long, as is often the cafe, before thry 

 are fpread out, as the plants undcrneatli them bccom<» blancli- 

 ed and tender, and great injury is done to the fward ir. fuch 

 cafes, all of which may be ealily avoided by fpreading a« 

 foon as podible after the manure is taken out. Incoiivenier;. 

 ces of this kind may likewife be avoided by fpreading thr 

 manure from the carts, as is the praftic? in the mid'and ar.d 

 fome other didricts : but in this method it is fufpefted th'r 

 work can neither be executed in fo exaft a manner, or with fo 

 much economy of time or labour. In this wav hill-fteadi 

 will not be formed, and, of courfe, the dif.idvai.tjge of their 

 getting too large a proportion of the manure prevented," at 

 Mr. Marfiiall lias well obferved in his Economy of the Mid- 

 land Counties of the Kingdom. 



The ufual prailice, as foon as " the whole has been fpread 

 out, and remained in that date for a fortnight i.r three wetks, 

 or longer, according to circtimdances, and is become in feme 

 degree dry and powdery, to apply a bufli-harrow over the 

 furface once or twice in a plaie, in order to reduce the ma- 

 nure into a finer date, and bring it more fully to the roots of 

 the gradl's. But this fort of work, as that of fpreading, 

 diould never be attempted y.hen the feafon is wet, and the 

 manure in a chggy, adliefive date. As foon as this work 

 has been executed, all the rubbidi of every kii:d fnould be 

 carefully picked off, in order that the' ground may receive 

 the adlion of the roller," which fliould be palTed over it a» 

 frequently as may be thought iiecefTary, when the land is in 

 a fuitable condition for receiving it. ( See RoLLINO.) Thii 

 is the principal bufinefs which is requifite in the mauagemeut 

 of grafs-lands in general. 



In Hertfordfl^ire, "amodc of managing found meadows and 

 padures has lately been tried, and attended with great increafe 

 of produce. The grafs is mown as foon as it is in blofTotn, 

 and confequently preWous to tire formation of feed. The 

 after-grafs is not grazed until it begins to cuntraCl a yellorf 

 appcai-ance, in t!ie latter end of Dclober or the beginning of 

 November. In this ca'e the ground remains covered during 

 the winter with a portion- of dead herbage, through which 

 t!ie young gral's t'prings with the greatell vigour. Mr. 

 Kright contends, that the (;ip in all jilants ai'cends through 

 the alburnous vedels- of the root, and is difperfed 0T?er the 

 leaf, whence it is returned to fonn new ro»)ts and buds, and 

 to prepare them for vegetation. According to this theory, 

 if the leaves be eaten off on mowing ground, as foon as they 

 are reproduced," the roots are deprived of their nutriment, 

 and the plants in confequence vegetate weakly in the fuccred- 

 ing fpring. "Whether this hypoth/lis be well or ill founded, 

 it is certain that the ground which is left with tiiis portion of 

 the leaves of grafs in the one feafon, is much more produtJuve, 

 and more early in the next ; and clofe grazing will ever "be 

 found to deereafe the quantity, allhougli it fliould improve 

 the quality, of the following crops." It is evident that ther^ 

 is fome truth in this, fron'i its having been found that the 

 crops are more early and abundant in diTl"erer.t cafc^, where 

 the afler-gral's is not fed down much in the autumn.il feafoH 

 with live Itock. ' See MowINi; and GltAziXC. 



Criniparuli-ve Qiujnlily of FaaJ fi'Qin Gtj/s ami T/.'/.jjf Land. 



With rcfpeiS to the difference in the proportion of human 



food raifed from grafs and tillage land, the firit circumilanct 



neceilarv to be attetided to, accordiiisr to a lat*- writer, i.-; that 



4 N coiuuK'nJy 



