On a Variety of Italian B.ye- Grass. 



579 



alone, but to all heavy and at the same time valuable crops. I am led 

 to this remark by what has alr,eady occurred, for when I have been asked 

 what dressing I have used, and mentioned 9 cwt. of guano per acre, the 

 reply has always been, "Is not this enormous?" To which I can only 

 answer — " Look at the produce." 



From what I saw at your farm last year, as well as from my own ex- 

 perience in this, I have a full conviction that upon good deep heavy soils, 

 with abundance of manure, and especially liquid manure, it is possible to 

 grow 40 or even 50 tons of rye-grass per acre in a single season ; and if 

 so, the question for a practical agriculturist is, What is the value of a 

 ton of rye-grass, and what is the value of a ton of manure ; and he w^ill 

 then be able to say how many tons of manure he can apply wdth a pros- 

 pect of profit. 



It seems especially calculated for deep heavy lands near the farm-yard. 

 A capacious liquid-manure tank, with a liquid-manure cart so contrived 

 as to take out the liquid manure and bring back a load of cut-grass, 

 would greatly increase its value, and in the absence of these guano will 

 be found no bad substitute. 



I am, Sir, yours very faithfully, 



T. W. BULLER. 



15, Sussex Gardens, London, Sept. 2, 1846. 



These practical deductions inform us^ my Lord, that this valu- 

 able plant may be grown upon almost every kind of soil by judi- 

 cious treatment with unbounded success ; and it may be interesting 

 to know the loss of weight by drying it. A yard of grass w^as cut 

 for Captain Buller, September 19, being the fourth or fifth crop 

 of that year, and after seed had been taken, it weighed as grass 

 5f lbs. (12 tons 8 cwt. to the acre) ; dried twelve days in the air 

 it became reduced to 2f lbs. (5 tons 18 cwt.) ; hung up three 

 days in a kitchen, with 65 to 75 degrees of heat, it became 2 lbs. 

 10 oz. ; then roasted in a sack before the fire till it would rub to 

 powder in the hand, it weighed 2 lbs. 6^ oz. (5 tons 3 cwt. the 

 acre) . 



No. 1. The hot limestone entirely failed. 



No. 2 produced, without manure, solid or liquid, up to the first week 

 in August, 5 feet 6 inches of grass. 



No. 3, sand upon sand, produced without liquid but little at Woburn, 

 while in Warwickshire (Nos. 4 and 5) it produced seven crops by Sep- 

 tember 14, and in Devon (No. 5) a net profit of 1/. 9^. 8d. per acre, 

 wdth the enormous outlay of 13 cwt. of guano to the acre. 



Nos. 6 and 7. Two growers have sown the plant in sand upon stone- 

 brash without success ; pains seem to have been taken in these cases ; it 

 must be said to have failed in both, and this is the only soil in which it 

 has not generally succeeded. 



Nos. 8 to 13. Sand upon gravel. All remunerating crops except No. 8. 

 The whole of these soils were unlikely to produce good crops in so hot a 

 summer, and perhaps many of them would have grown very little grass 

 of any other kind. 



