236 JVotes on Inoculation of Grass Land at Kimbolton. 
Manchester has arrived at that minimum point. But it is better 
to accept nothing as final without direct experiment. 
We have so far only spoken of the land inoculated, nothing 
of the pasture from which it is made. Woburn Park got so dis- 
figured under the old process, that George Sinclair, gardener to 
the Duke of Bedford, in the work already mentioned, says, that 
the marked stripes remaining after it had been robbed of a 
portion of its turf so inconvenienced people in walking and 
Tiding, that the vacant spaces " had to be filled up with mould 
and sown with grass seeds, for there were no creeping rooted 
grasses present." By cutting out only two 2-inch strips at some 
distance apart, no such predicament follows. At Kimbolton the 
implement goes down the land, generally along the furrow, 
leaving the whole back of the ridge untouched ; excoria- 
tions heal up rapidly, so that, although the indentation made is 
distinguishable, no perceptible damage remains after the first 
year, as far as the eye can judge. 
The opinion of Mr. James Howard, with regard to inocula- 
tion is, that it is an " expensive method." This clearly means 
that it costs too much, but he says " a good pasture is much 
more quickly obtained." There can, I think, be little doubt 
that inoculation has one great advantage over sowing seeds, 
namely, that there is no falling ofF experienced in the third, 
fourth, or fifth year, at least to the same extent as is universally 
admitted occurs when land is laid down to pasture with artificial 
grasses. Once inoculation " takes," the grass goes on improving. 
It certainly does not appear to get worse, if we accept the unani- 
mous testimony of those who have practised the system. If it 
be granted, therefore, that a good pasture is formed more quickly 
by transplanting turves than by sowing seeds, and that inocu- 
lation produces pasture that does not deteriorate in quality as 
when artificial grasses are sown, a great deal has been said in its 
favour. The only other important consideration is one of cost, 
which will greatly vary according to circumstances, such as the 
price of labour, and the distance from which the strips of turf 
have to be procured. Finallv, it appears to me that the least 
expensive and altogether the best method of inoculation is tlijit 
which has been practised at Kimbolton Park Farm by his Grace 
the Duke of Manchester. 
