1922.] Improvement of Grass Land in Lancashire. 1048 



The following note has been communicated by Mr. H. 

 Bradshaw, Beach Road, Cleveleys, Blackpool : — 



Im rovement of m " ea P ac ^ as Executive Officer I had 



_ ^ . , . exceptional opportunities of studying the 

 Grass Land in , n , A * i v 



grass land of the county. A large amount 



Lancashire. of thig land ig extremel y we u f arme d, but it 

 must be admitted that there is also a very large area which is 

 badly farmed and not producing anything like the quantity of 

 milk, beef and mutton that it is capable of producing. This 

 latter class of land is to be found chiefly in the eastern part of 

 the county on the coal measures and is a cold stiff clay. The 

 herbage consists chiefly of bent, and through continued neglect 

 the land is rapidly going back to moorland. 



The basis of any improvement would appear to be lime. Nine- 

 tenths of the farmers in East Lancashire, as the result of 

 experience, say definitely that it is of no use applying manures 

 to their land without first applying lime in some form. 



Where a field is covered with a thick matting of bent it is no 

 use applying a dressing of slag till this bent is got rid of, and 

 nothing appears to get rid of it so well as a dressing of lime.* 

 I have seen numbers of cases where slag has been applied to grass 

 land and no results were visible. If, however, a dressing of lime 

 was given, a marked difference in the character of the herbage 

 was quickly seen, white clover taking the place of the bent. 

 There is a pasture field situated within 6 miles of Manchester 

 which, up to 1914, was let annually as a football field. Since 

 1914 football has not been played on it and no lime or manure 

 applied. Whilst let as a football field the various touch lines 

 were marked out with lime and these lines show to this day. 

 Here the sward is quite green and full of clover whilst the 

 remainder of the field is brown and benty. 



My chief difficulty with farmers in these districts was in per- 

 suading them that lime was not a manure. A large number 

 thought that if a field were limed every four years or so there 

 was no necessity to apply any form of artificial manure. Others, 

 however, are setting their neighbours an example of what can 

 be accomplished by the use of lime and slag. Some landowners, 

 too, are not behind in offering assistance to their tenants. In 

 one case after I had inspected an estate of 5,000 acres and 

 reported that lime was essential, the landlord made it known to 

 his tenants that he was prepared to pay half the cost of liming. 



* Mechanical treatment is recommended in the Ministry's Leaflet No. 275. 



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