1905.] Formation of Permanent Pastures. 451 



seedlings were coming up. Apart from seedlings and runners, 

 an ordinary good pasture may contain from eight to ten 

 million rooted plants. But admitting that Sinclair's figures do 

 represent the highest class of pasture, let us ask if the conclu- 

 sions he draws are correct. Can we deduce from the number of 

 plants in an old pasture the number which ought to be sown ? 

 I do not think we can. The old pasture may be our goal, but it 

 cannot, except in a very limited way, be our guide. We should 

 remember that an old pasture must grow old, that the number 

 of plants appropriate at 50 years is not appropriate at 5, and 

 that the species present not only are, but must be, different 

 in pastures of different ages. 



No one appears to have studied the development of 

 pastures, and to have put on record the changes which 

 take place. We are therefore unable to say what is normal 

 progress on well-managed land, but we can indicate three 

 more or less well-marked periods in the life of the pasture. 

 The first stage lasts for a year or two only. Rye-grass is 

 vigorous ; red clover grows well ; cock's-foot and timothy, too, 

 may make a fair show. The second stage begins about the third 

 year. Red clover gradually disappears, rye-grass becomes thin 

 and looks starved, cock's-foot and other grasses show signs of 

 spreading, and, in damp seasons, alsyke and white clover cover 

 up the land fairly well. But except in summer a considerable 

 part of the surface of a pasture in the second stage is bare. 

 This stage of the pasture is of very variable duration, but sooner 

 or later a third stage is met with. If the land is poor and 

 neglected, bent and Yorkshire fog appear ; the land may then 

 become " hide-bound," and remain indefinitely in a poor and 

 profitless state. On the other hand, with good management or 

 on naturally good soil, the better grasses are kept alive through- 

 out the critical second stage, and gradually as vegetation 

 spreads the bare soil becomes covered up, drought ceases 

 to play havoc with the smaller grasses and white clover, 

 nitrogen is fixed in the soil, and for a time fertility accumu- 

 lates at a compound rate. * Perennial rye-grass, finding 



* The high fertility of old pastures is well known, and Mr. A. D. Hall has lately 

 pointed out that the accumulation may sometimes be much more rapid than until 

 recently was thought to be possible. 



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