1056 



Improvement of Grass Land. 



[Feb., 



IMPROVEMENT OF GRASS LAND : 



THE IMPORTANCE OF EXPERIMENTS.* 



T. J. Jenkin, M.Sc, 

 The University College of Wales, Aberystwyth. 



It should be clearly understood that the campaign for the 

 improvement of grass land instituted by the Ministry does not 

 aim at converting arable into pasture land. The object is so to 

 improve existing pastures and any new pastures which must be 

 laid down, either temporarily or 'permanently, that with the 

 desired extension of the arable area, the amount of grass will 

 at least not be diminished but will even be increased. It is 

 therefore intended that the improvement should not be limited 

 to obviously poor old pastures, but should extend to all classes 

 of grass land which are capable of improvement by any method. 



The Value of Experiments. — Our present information 

 with regard to pastures is very largely based upon results 

 obtained by means of experiments in various parts of the 

 country. The conditions under which these have been carried 

 out vary a great deal, and one can never be quite sure that if 

 an experiment which has been carried out in one part of the 

 country is repeated in another part, where the conditions are 

 more or less different, the results obtained will be exactly 

 similar. This, however, does not mean that such experiments 

 are of but little value. They have proved to be of great value 

 in many cases, and have already led to a very great improve- 

 ment, and results obtained in one district have been reproduced 

 in other distant localities. 



Manuring for Meadow Hay. — Methods of mauuriDg for 

 meadow hay vary considerably, and many are based on very 

 long practice. This, however, does not prove that they are the 

 best possible. It may be that an improved method would produce 

 either greater quantity, or better quality, or, what is chiefly to 

 be aimed at, an improvement in both quantity and quality. 



The. case of water meadows is obviously one where a great deal 

 of information might be obtained by means of well-conducted 

 experiments. At the present time farmers are faced with the diffi- 

 culty of cost, both of upkeep and of haymaking, and a system, 

 therefore, which would reduce expenditure and at the same time 



* Abstract of a lecture delivorpd by Mr. T. J. Jenkin at a meeting of the 

 Farmers' Union at Dorchester, 25th September. 1920. 



