The Herbage of Pastures. 
381 
No. 69.— A turf sent by Mr. Geo. Riddell, Corsehope, Heriot, Midlothian, 
who writes that it is "from a field laid down into permanent pasture 
twenty-five years ago by the late Charles Lawson, who farmed his own 
property at that time, and who was well known as the first seedsman in 
Britain then. The elevation of the field will be about 900 to 1,000 feet 
above sea-level." The soil appeared to be a friable, stony loam ; the turf 
was only six inches deep, the soil being too loose to permit of a greater 
depth. It was a very grassy turf, and yielded after cutting on July 5 : — 
Gramineous herbage, 90 | Leguminous, a trace | Miscellaneous, 10. 
Leguminous herbage was represented by merely a few leaves of Trifolium 
repens. Half the miscellaneous herbage was made up of Ranunculus repens, 
the remainder consisting of compositaceous species of Carduus, Sonchus, and 
Leontodon. The gramineous herbage was thus made up : — 
Agrostis stolonifera .... 74 Poa trivialis 2 
Cynosurus cristatus .... 6 Poa pratensis a trace 
Festuca ovina et var 5 Undetermined 9 
Lolium perenne 4 
Three-fourths of the grass, then, was Agrostis stolonifera, which crept out 
around the turf in a most luxuriant fashion. 
No. 70. — A turf sent by Mr. C. M. Patterson, Eskside House, Dalkeith, 
Midlothian, from the Marquis of Lothian's estate at Newbattle. Mr. Patter- 
son writes that it is " a sample of our grazing-land," but that " it is not 
what can be called feeding-land, being light and porous." The turf was 
nine inches deep, and had the appearance of a very dark brown, sandy loam, 
with crystalline particles (mica ?) and black, scoriaceous, or cindery frag- 
ments. Cut on July 29, the herbage yielded : — ■ 
Gramineous herbage, 82 | Leguminous, 5 | Miscellaneous, 13. 
The leguminous herbage consisted exclusively of Trifolium repens ; whilst 
five-sixths of the miscellaneous herbage was Prunella vulgaris, and the 
remainder Ranunculus acris and Ranunculus repens. The grasses were : — 
Holcus lanatus 36 Festuca ovina et var 2 
Alopecurus pratensis .... 25 Lolium perenne 1 
Agrostis sp 23 Phleum pratense .... a trace 
Cynosurus cristatus .... 6 Undetermined 7 
No. 71. — A turf sent by Mr. Thomas Gibson, Haymount, Kelso, Roxburgh- 
shire, who writes : — " It is taken from a field of old pasture laid down 
more than thirty years ago. It grazes well, keeping more than a bullock to 
the imperial acre. It was cut for hay about twelve years ago, and was 
again cut last year. When in bloom I had it examined by a botanist, who 
was much surprised to find a very large proportion of perennial rye-grass in 
it, showing that a fine old sward contains that grass in a much larger pro- 
portion than modern authorities admit." The turf was nine inches deep, and 
the soil had the appearance of a reddish-brown, friable loam, somewhat 
stony. No rootlets were visible on the under surface. Cut on July 12, the 
herbage yielded : — 
Gramineous herbage, 99 | Leguminous, a trace | Miscellaneous, 1. 
As these figures show, the herbage was almost exclusively grass, there 
being besides only a few fragments of Trifolium repens and a small quautity 
of Taraxacum. The gramineous herbage was made up of: — 
