93-2 



Moorland Grazing. 



[Jan., 



areas had been trampled almost black, with much dung on the 

 surface. These portions were heavily chain-harrowed with a 

 Parmiter harrow, which levelled them and spread the manure. 



In the following summer another crop of Bent hay was 

 stacked in a different part of the field, and the process was 

 repeated for several years, until, when the whole of the 

 enclosure had come under treatment, a dressing of lime was 

 applied. As a result the Flying Bent was destroyed and the 

 " fog " disappeared. On a soil somewhat peaty in character 

 a new herbage has arisen. The enclosure looks a veritable 

 oasis, especially at those seasons when the moor beyond its 

 fences turns brown and later greyish-white, due to the 

 dominant Mohnia. At a modest estimate the value of the field 

 for grazing, acre for acre, is five or six times that of the surround- 

 ing EigQ:. Improvement of a further area on these lines is 

 being contemplated by the present tenant of Tarn House, and 

 the method has been followed on other moorland in 

 Northumberland. 



When Dr. Wilham Somer^-ille. now Professor of Eural Eco- 

 nomy in the University of Oxford, was Professor at Armstrong 

 College, he attempted some experiments at Tarn House in the 

 manitring of rough moorland. Ten plots, of Jth acre each, were 

 laid out and dressed in 1895 with nitrate of soda, slag, super- 

 phosphate and kainit, applied separately and in various com- 

 binations. The plots were at an elevation of 800 feet and the 

 " fog " was thick. The fisrures of cost of treatment for the 

 period show a range of from 8s. 9d. an acre where nitrate of 

 soda alone was used, to 16s. 9d. an acre where lime dust was 

 appHed together with slag and kainit. The reports were not 

 encouraging, although small amounts of the dressings were 

 appHed annually for several years. It was observed that where 

 kainit had been used, stock had eaten the herbage on the plot, 

 probably because of the salt ingredients in the maniu'e. In addi- 

 tion slae and kainit had caused an increased yield of herbage. 

 By 1897. however, the effect of the manures was scarcely obsei-v- 

 able. Mr. Dobson. the tenant of Tarn House, states that when 

 the plots were finally inspected no improvement of any kind was 

 visible. The reason given by Professor Someiwille was that the 

 artificial manures had not been able to reach the soil, but were 

 held up by the thick, matted, spongy covering of roots which 

 overlaid it. and made manurial treatment of no avail. It was 

 only by drastic and costly methods that any permanent improve- 

 ment could be effected. 



