456 Formation of Permanent Pastures. [nov., 



And now we come to a successfurmi that 

 in placing the Abbotsley plots in order of merit, we may say 

 ■""■No. VIII. first, the others, nowhere." The mixture is one of 

 those containing deep-rooted plants, which was mentioned by 

 Mr. R. H. Elliot, of Clifton Park, in a paper written for the 

 Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of England in 1897. 

 It was successfully employed by him in sowing down 25 acres 

 of poor land 600 feet above sea level, land of very different 

 -quality from the strong low-lying soil at Abbotsley. The chief 

 peculiarity of the mixture is that it contains chicory, burnet 

 kidney vetch, and yarrow, but though some of these have been 

 of value and have contributed to the success of the mixture, it 

 is not the deep-rooted plants that now give the pasture its 

 character. From the analysis of the herbage it will be seen 

 that 45 per cent, of the surface is covered with clover, so that 

 there is four or five times as much clover on Plot VIII. as on 

 any of the other plots. While it is the fine close covering of 

 white clover that gives Plot VIII. its special value, it should be 

 noticed that other species are well represented. Cock's-foot, 

 meadow fescue, Italian rye-grass, and yarrow, each contributes 

 about 10 per cent, to the herbage ; the meadow grasses form 

 *]\ per cent. ; and there is a fair sprinkling of chicory. Weeds 

 and bare soil occupy but 24 per cent, of the surface, as against 

 14/6 in the case of No. V. Another good point to be noticed in 

 the growth of Elliot's mixture is that the cock's-foot plants are 

 of moderate size. The tufts are only half as large as on several 

 of the other plots. The general resemblance of the herbage to 

 that of an old pasture has been commented on by visitors ; and 

 live stock, both sheep and cattle, have decided that of the 32 

 plots contained in the experimental field, this one is most to 

 their liking. 



While it is doubtless the character of the mixture that has 

 made the luxuriant growth of white clover possible, it is equally 

 clear that the healthy colour of the grasses and the thick even 

 sward are in turn the result of the improvement of the soil 

 effected by the clover. Without this strong development of 

 white clover, the deep-rooting plants and the grasses would not 

 have produced a pasture of any great value. This is shown by 

 the figures in Table IV., which give the composition of the 



