460 Formation of Permanent Pastures. [nov., 



that the land can carry through the first half-dozen years. The 

 probable number of plants which poor clay land will carry is 

 indicated by the figures given in the foregoing tables, but more 

 experimental evidence is required before we can say how many 

 seeds are likely to be necessary under the various conditions 

 that occur in practice. It is certain, however, that the ultimate 

 number of plants will depend quite as much upon the manage- 

 ment as upon the numbers sown down. 



The herbage of the pasture during its second stage ought 

 chiefly to consist of white clover, and if we succeed in getting 

 from 30 to 40 per cent, of the surface covered by this plant 

 during the late summer months of the third, fourth, and fifth 

 seasons, we are likely to achieve success. 



It is the herbage of the first year or two that presents most 

 difficulty. We must on the one hand have a perfectly covered 

 surface, while on the other we must avoid killing off the greater 

 number of the seeds sown by overcrowding them before they 

 are well established. It is because Elliot's mixture has proved 

 a good " first stage " mixture that it now promises to form a 

 good permanent pasture. The small quantity of rye-grass in 

 .this mixture is one of its features, yet the mixture produced as 

 good a hay crop in 1901 as any other, and three-fourths of the 

 hay crop was rye-grass. In Elliot's mixture, Italian rye-grass 

 was used. I would prefer, however, to use both rye-grasses. 

 Italian rye-grass will disappear and leave room for the growth 

 of white clover in the second stage, while we want perennial rye- 

 grass as a permanent species, for no grass is likely to be more 

 useful in the old. pasture. In the first stage perennial rye-grass 

 is also useful, but it is an " undesirable " in the second stage, and 

 the quantity sown should be limited. It is likely that under 

 ordinary circumstances from 3 to 7 lb. per acre would be enough. 



The clovers should be sown in moderate quantities ; nothing 

 is gained by thick sowing. If the crop of the first year is cut 

 for hay, as it usually is, red clover may form so thick a covering 

 that the smaller plants are drawn and weak ; further a thickly 

 sown crop of red clover seems to die out more completely than 

 a crop in which thin seeding permits a better development of 

 the individual plants. Burnet and sainfoin, which may be pur- 

 chased mixed, as also lucerne, chicory, and yarrow, should be 



