556 



Improvement of Poor Pasture. 



[dec, 



than when stocked with sheep only, and another (Palace Leas 

 Field) is designed to test the effect of manures on the quantity 

 and quality of meadow hay. 



The general results of all these trials are summed up by Pro- 

 fessor Gilchrist, as follows : — 



1. For improving the extensive areas of poor Boulder Clay 

 pasture in Northumberland, the best start can be made with a 

 dressing of lo cwt. an acre of basic slag. A judicious combi- 

 nation of superphospate and lime will probably have the same 

 effect, but at a considerably greater cost. Other phosphatic 

 manures than slag are all useful for this purpose, but are not so 

 profitable. It is probable that this initial treatment may be 

 advantageously followed by dressings of 5 cwt. slag per acre 

 about every three years, and the judicious feeding of cake to 

 the grazing stock. 



2. For poor old pasture on sandy soils slag may also be ex- 

 ceedingly effective, if a potash manure is also used. 



3. The feeding of cake on poor pasture will probably prove a 

 • most effectual assistant to slag in effecting improvement. The 



larger amount of stock carried when cake is fed entails closer 

 grazing and aids greatly in the development of sweet bottom 

 herbage. When a pasture has become rather coarse the re- 

 moval of the rough herbage by mowing at the end of the season 

 is most desirable. 



4. Liming of pasture is an expensive operation, and the re- 

 turns may be most disappointing. It is only under special 

 circumstances that it is likely to be profitable. 



5. Judicious applications of slag and dung have proved a re- 

 markably good combination at Cockle Park for developing 

 sweet clovery herbage on thin hay and pasture land. When 

 dung is used a potash manure is not needed even on a sandy 

 soil, and a nitrogenous manure should not be used. The results 

 on plot I of Palace Leas show the disastrous effects of using 

 .complete artificials in combination with dung. 



