496 Report on Laying doivn Land to Permanent Pasture. 
viously havino; been well manured and cleaned. I do not approve of per- 
manent seeds being sown with wheat, as the ground will get foul and carry 
an uneven face ; nor do I like the practice of sowing rape with grass seeds, 
in order to fold off the rape, as the seeds are eaten too closely : this should be 
particularly avoided, and in order to strengthen the plant and prevent the 
cattle biting too closely, a dressing of good rotten dung should be applied in 
autumn, or in the following summer after the hay is carried. 
I am of opinion that all wet land should be well drained, although possibly 
it will carry a worse face for a few years after, consequent on the water-weeds 
and grasses dying; and in the case of very poor herbage there is no process so 
effectual as cropping the land for a few years, and then relaying it to grass of 
the best quality. 
As to my ordinary tillage land, I generally sow this to extra seeds or half 
pasture, which I purchase of Mr. Edwin Tucker of Ashburton, costing from 
ios. to 18.S. per acre. The soil being clean and the weather favourable, I sow my 
seeds in April ; the light being brushed in with chain-harrows, and the heavy 
mixture being rolled according to soil, — grass seeds require a fine solid bed. 
All seeds should be mown the first year, when not over ripe; and, if a return 
is made to the field in the shape of good dung or other manure, mowing can 
do no harm, and in many cases is productive of much good, inasmuch as 
cattle are continually feeding on the sweetest and best grasses, and those of a 
coarser and poorer description are not allowed to predominate. By adopting this 
system, I- am enabled to carry a much greater number of live stock, w-hich 
will thrive and do much better on the i^asture grasses than on ordinary seeds, 
such as ever, role, trefoil, and the' like. Many of my fields managed in this 
way will fatten a bullock ; and when I get them into a good grass-growing 
condition, I allow them to remain in grass five or six years, after which a 
succession of paying crops can be taken, with very little manure, and the 
labour is diminished, as a field that has grown a quantity of grass is both 
cleaner and more easily worked after the first ploughing than one that has 
grown but little. 
After six years' ley, my cropping usually is ley wheat, mangolds, wheat, 
swedes, barley and seeds, or wheat, winter oats, vetches, turnips, barley and 
seeds. The cropping used to be, pare and burn for roots, wheat, barley and 
seeds for a two or three years' ley. 
As to imjDroving permanent pasture, I think it injurious to be continually 
stocking the land : it should be allowed at times to run into a good bite, and 
in early spring the whole of the previous summer grass should be eaten off as 
close as j)ossible ; then unstock until it is again fit to take cattle. 
Folding with sheep on roots and cake will much improve pasture, but 
dung is better for fine herbage. For a coarse pasture I would recommend 
lime and soil and compost, or dissolved bones and nitrate of soda: 4 cvvt. of 
bones and 1 or 2 cwt. of nitrate per acre. Coarse pasture can be improved by 
cutting, and manuring after the hay is carried. I use artificial manures 
largely for both roots and corn. , 
My personal experience of the system I have described is, that it requires 
about 30 per cent, more capital to farm successftilly under it ; and that a tenant 
requires a long lease and a good landlord to enable him to do justice to him- 
.self and his farm, otherwise the risk of leaving a great deal of his capital in the 
land, on a short notice to quit, is too great for most tenant farmers to run. 
Alfbed Tuc5EK. 
18. The Duffbtn, Newport, Monmouthshire. 
The larger portion of this neighbourhood is in permanent pasture. How 
long it has been so I cannot say, neither do I know whether the cause of its 
