1905.] Formation of Permanent Pastures. 391 



knows that unless it is liberally treated it will usually make a 

 poor show after the second season, and from De Laune's 

 reference to the opinions expressed by Carrington,* it is plain 

 that he himself did not manure freely. 



Dissatisfied with seedsmen and their seeds-mixtures, De Laune 

 turned to the " Hortus Gramineous Woburnensis," and found in 

 this admirable book much instruction. He found, it is true, that 

 some of Sinclair's opinions were " astonishing." Such an opinion, 

 for example, was his estimate of the relative values of perennial 

 rye- grass, foxtail, meadow fescue, and cocksfoot, which when 

 placed in order of merit were as 5 : 12 : 17 : 18 respectively ; 

 but after quoting Sinclair, De Laune adds, " My own experience 

 convinces me that these proportionate estimates of Sinclair's are 

 correct." De Laune does not appear to have made any exact 

 experiments on the relative values of these four grasses, but he 

 accepted Sinclair's views, and he has handed these views on to 

 his followers. To-day, therefore, when we hear rye-grass con- 

 demned, we are listening to opinions based upon Sinclair's ex- 

 periments, and it is worth while to turn back and examine them. 

 Sinclair's grasses were grown on beds of good loam soil, and 

 the area from which he calculated the yield per acre was four 

 square feet. Multiplying up the produce of these small beds, 

 he found that cocksfoot yielded hay at the rate of 5 tons 

 per acre, and rye-grass at the rate of ij tons per acre. Cocks- 

 foot, on being analysed by the imperfect methods known to 

 Sinclair, was found to be 50 per cent, richer than rye-grass ; but 

 from Voelcker's recent analysesf we know that the composition 

 of both grasses is very nearly the same. It was on data, there- 

 fore, to which no one now would attach importance that 

 Sinclair's original estimate of the value of rye-grass was 

 founded, and it is this estimate which has reached us through 

 De Laune. It is important to notice, too, that De Laune's 

 reference is to a section of the " Hortus Gramineous " which 

 was modified on a later page. Sinclair made his experiments 

 on Pacey's rye-grass, but he afterwards learned that rye-grass 

 was a very variable plant, and that some of the varieties had a 

 much higher value than the type he first studied. On page 412 



* See Jount. R.A.S.E. ,1879, p. ^87. 



f See analysis in Sutton's " Permanent and Temporary Pastures/' 



