452 Formation of Permanent Pastures. [nov., 



once more abundant supplies of food, spreads over the surface, 

 carpeting the ground with its dark green foliage ; round the 

 tufts of rye-grass the thirsty runners of white clover shade 

 themselves from the June sun, and, winding in and out among 

 their less adventurous rivals, seek for and send their roots 

 into every bare spot of soil ; while from under the leaves of 

 rye-grass and foxtail appear fescues, dog's-tail, and other now 

 flourishing survivors of a struggle in which many of their 

 comrades have perished. In this way the pasture grows. 



Though much may be done by manuring and by a wise 

 choice of plants to hasten the coming of the third stage, it 

 is not practicable to avoid the second stage altogether. In 

 sowing down pastures, therefore, we must remember that the 

 lean years will come, and that there is no use supplying in the 

 mixture a greater number of plants than can be carried through 

 them. It is not the forty million plants of the years of plenty, 

 but the three or four million plants which the soil can safely carry 

 through the years of famine that should indicate the seed-rate 

 to us. In the same way, in selecting species for sowing, we 

 must remember that we require plants for three stages, and 

 that it is not the old pasture only which must be considered. 

 It seems to me that a good deal of the controversy which 

 has arisen around pasture plants has been due to forget ful- 

 ness of the fact that a pasture must be young before it is 

 old. 



It has been argued by De Laune and others that there should 

 be no second stage, and that the falling off during the second 

 period is entirely due to the use of rye-grass. I agree with 

 De Laune to some extent ; a heavy seeding of rye-grass is not 

 only unnecessary, but is likely to cause undue depression in the 

 second stage of the pasture's existence, but the omission of 

 rye-grass will not prevent the falling off that will follow the 

 disappearance of red clover and the loss by the surface soil of 

 the tilth imparted to it before it was sown down. The second 

 stage cannot be done away with, but, as I have already said, 

 much may be done to shorten it by sowing the right species, 

 by manuring, and by careful grazing. 



In the Abbotsley experiment already referred to we have 

 had illustrations of both successful and unsuccessful seeds- 



