Report on Laying down Land to Permanent Pasture. 483 
Immediately the com is off I put feeding sheep on the seeds, giving them cake, 
&c. : thus the land gets well consolidated, and the j'oung grass is not thrown 
out by the frosts. I never mow it, but pasture for the first three years with 
sheep, iind afterwards with fat cattle, getting cake. 
1 have laid down in all about 250 acres of grass land, and I find that it pays me 
better now than formerly. I know of no system under which a farm of medium 
qualitj' in a western district will give a better return than when kept in grass. 
When I entered the farm the stock were small Welsh store sheep and cattle, 
very few ever getting fat. My stock is now trebled in number, and consists of 
Leicester and Cheviot sheep, and whatever in the cattle line will pay best. 
The quantity of stock that newly laid-down land will carry generally increases 
up to the fourth year ; after that no increase can be looked for. If, as some- 
times hapjiens, the herbage falls off about the seventh and eighth year, I 
should advise ploughing out the grass and taking two crops of turnips in 
succession, to be eaten on the ground, which will j>ermanently enrich the soil 
My landlord drained and limed the land (8 tons of lime to the acre), upon 
which outlay I paj' 5 per cent. In this district land of any description, if in 
good order, will pay well to lay down to grass. Light land, being easy to 
work, should, in preference to heavy, be kept under the plough, but it will 
require more manure. 
Thos. Borthwick. 
36. COLOMENDY, MoLD, FlINTSHIBE. 
The Colomendy farm, of which I am the owner and occupier, consists of 
' about 185 acres of grass and arable land, and about 750 acres of hill land. The 
soil varies from a stiff clay to gravel and sand, but is mostly a gravelly loam. 
The subsoil is mountain limestone, cropping out in many places to the surface. 
The average rainfall is nearly 31 inches. I have laid down to permanent grass 
abo\it 80 acres, having been influenced in doing so by the great demand for 
' young stock of all kinds, by the rise in wages, and by the difficulty of getting good 
i trustworth}' workmen at any price. Some of my land was difficult to work, 
as the rock cropping up to the surface caused freouent breakage of farm imple- 
ments ; I therefore selected such portions for laying down to grass. 
I have found that I can get my land into the best condition for seeds, that 
is, in good heart and clean, in the following manner : — I take a crop of pota.tc*s, 
grown with good farmyard-dung, followed by a crop of turnips, raised solely 
from artificials, and wholly or in part fed off with sheep. In this way the 
farmyard-manure puts the land in good heart, and the turnip-crop gives time 
for any noxious seeds that may be in the manure to germinate and be destroyed 
before the grass-seeds are sown. 
I sow my seeds in March — light and heavy at the same time, but separately, 
the one lot across the other, with a drill. I have grown my best seeds with a 
crop of oats, thinly drilled. I harrow well after sowing the corn, and follow with 
a Cambridge roller ; then sow the grass-seeds, which will fall into the little 
furrows or ruts, and a harrow following covers them nicely and at a uniform 
depth. I like to give young grass a heavy dressing of well-rotted farmyard- 
manure ; but if tliat cannot be spared I recommend 3 cwt. of sujierphosphate 
and 1 cwt. of nitrate of soda per acre. I have found 2 cwt. of kainit, 2 of 
superphosphate, and 1 of nitrate of soda, to have an excellent effect. I commonlj"- 
mow the first year, but before the grasses are ripe ; and I put no stock into the 
field until there is a good aftermath, when I admit sheep and young cattle, 
giving them plenty of com and cake. I keep all stock off during the winter. I 
am certain that the having more land in gra.ss than I formerly had paj's me 
well, especially in saving keep of horses and wages of men, while I am enabled 
to keep more stock. 
