120 PERMANENT AND TEMPORARY PASTURES 



Temporary Pastures 



Although a large proportion of the cultivated soil of the 

 United Kingdom is perfectly adapted for being laid away to 

 pasture, it is unquestionably true that certain soils do not 

 take kindly to permanent grasses. There are also cases where 

 absence of fences and want of funds to make them, the 

 cultural preparations and expense of the seeding, combine 

 to render the creation of a permanent pasture impracticable. 

 In relation to this subject I published a short paper some 

 years ago which had this question for its title : ' Is there no 

 Alternative ? ' As an answer I ventured strongly to press 

 upon the attention of agriculturists the necessity of adopting 

 the system of alternating grass with corn and roots as a 

 means of enabling them to work with less capital and of 

 reducing the labour bill by at least one-third. The late 

 Mr. Clare Sewell Read gave the sanction of his high authority 

 to this practice by publicly stating that he considered it to 

 be the only possible way of meeting modern conditions of 

 agriculture. 



Several of the reasons why some land will not grow a 

 satisfactory permanent pasture are very ably stated by one of 

 the greatest French agricultural authorities, Monsieur H. 

 Joulie, in his essay on ' Permanent and Temporary Meadows 

 and Pastures,' for which the Socie'te des Agriculteurs de 

 Prance awarded him a gold medal. He says : ' At first the 

 grass plants find a soil suitably dressed with farmyard or other 

 manure, that is to say, containing all the elements necessary 



