390 



Formation of Permanent Pastures. 



[OCT., 



is not ensured by sowing down permanent grasses in the 

 proportions in which one would like to find them twenty years 

 later. There is no direct and simple relation between the 

 " mixture " and the "old pasture." 



The view, however, which is chiefly associated with De 

 Laune's name is expressed in the following quotation : — " The 

 grasses most pernicious to newly-formed pastures are rye- 

 grass in all its varieties, and Yorkshire fog." Now this is a 

 very emphatic statement, and De Laune not only convinced 

 himself of its truth, but persuaded others. The experi- 

 mental seeds-mixtures, for example, which were laid down in 

 1895 by the Royal Agricultural Society of England, contained 

 no perennial rye-grass.* Mr. Elliot, of Clifton Park, condemns 

 this species, and Mr. Hunter, of Chester, a leading seedsman, 

 does not include it in his best mixtures. On the other hand, 

 another prominent seedsman, Mr. Martin Sutton, author of 

 our most useful English text-book on pastures, speaks well 

 of it ; Dr. Fream has shown that perennial rye-grass is 

 abundant in our best English pastures ; and Carruthers, who 

 challenged the high percentages obtained in Fream's analyses, 

 himself found perennial rye- grass on ten out of fourteen pastures 

 which he examined. f Stebler, the Continental authority, whose 

 *' Best Pasture Plants " (translated by M'Alpine) is a standard 

 work, also recommends rye-grass. Personally, I regard rye-grass 

 as among the best of our pasture plants, and I cannot remember 

 having seen a good old pasture in which it was not common ; 

 at the same time, I think that there has been a tendency to sow 

 too much in our ordinary mixtures. Before discussing the 

 seeds -mixture, however, I will indicate why such contrary 

 opinions of the value of rye-grass have been expressed. 



De Laune was unfortunate in his early experiences. He 

 first laid down land to grass in 1873, and, having no previous 

 knowledge of the subject, he failed. He then began to study 

 the pasture plants, and he ordered seeds of those which seemed 

 most likely to suit his land. But he suffered at the hands of 

 the seedsmen, and obtained from them little else than rye-grass. 

 Anyone who has had experience in sowing down rye-grass 



* " Final Report on Grass Experiments,' 5 Journ. R.A.SA.. 1504. 

 f Journ, R.A.S.E., 1890. 



