386 Formation of Permanent Pastures. [oct., 



trace the history of the subject, indicate where mistakes have, 

 in my opinion, been made, and point out directions in which 

 improvement may be looked for. Of one thing we may feel 

 sure : until the farmer does recognise the importance of a 

 personal knowledge of pasture plants, our grass farming will 

 continue to be unsatisfactory. It may not be the farmer's 

 business to procure or clean or test grass seeds, but it is his 

 business to sow and to cultivate them. It is he that should 

 tell the seedsman which species suit his land, and it is he that 

 must decide how much should be sown. Seedsmen have other 

 duties to attend to, and it is impossible that they should decide 

 on questions of which only the practical farmer can have 

 experience. 



The sowing of pasture plants dates back to the middle of the 

 17th century. Walter Blyth* describes the introduction of 

 Flanders red clover as a new improvement, and refers to the 

 difficulty of procuring good seed in the London shops. Sainfoin 

 and lucerne, which are also mentioned by Blyth, were 

 quite recent introductions into England at the time he wrote. 

 They are spoken of as French grasses ; sainfoin is strongly 

 recommended, and lucerne is suggested as worthy of an experi- 

 ment. The other common leguminous fodder plants did not 

 attract the attention of the improvers of this period, for though 

 Blyth says of them " there are so many sorts of claver as would 

 fil a volume," he does not consider them worth notice. Soon 

 afterwards, however, the best of them were cultivated, for Lisle,f 

 writing early in the 18th century, mentions a Wiltshire farmer 

 who was in the habit of sowing wild white and red clover, 

 and who obtained his seed from Sussex, where the plan " is 

 practised." Lisle, too (1707), recommends the free use of 

 manures for white clover " where it likes a ground, because it is 

 sweet food, and by its trayling stalks takes root at the joints, 

 and matts extreamly and soon overruns a ground, and is there- 

 fore I believe the longest liver." None of the grasses are 



* "The English Improver Improved," 3rd Edition, 1652, p. 1 77. 

 t "Observations in Husbandry," by Edward Lisle, Esq., late of Crux-Easton, 

 London, 1757, p. 250. 



