Report on Laying down Land to Permanent Pasture. 507 
Lawes, on the authority of Mr. H, S. Thompson, rerommended, 
in a certain instance, \^ cwt. nitrate of soda, 2^ cwt. superphos- 
phate, and 3 cwt. Kainit, as a renovating mixture for old grass 
land. The same proportions will not suit all places alike. The 
farmer must be guided in his selection by his own knowledge 
of the requirements of his soil, or by experiment and experience. 
There is no doubt that of artificial manures the most highly 
nitrogenous are the most generally efficacious as top-dressings 
to grass land, and that farmyard-manure is the most per- 
manent and beneficial in improving its condition. Mr. Lawes, 
therefore, in a letter which I have just received, says, " I am 
disposed to think a dressing of dung once in five years, and 
2 cwt. of nitrate of soda the other four, is about as good an 
application as can be used ;" adding, " you may be sure that 
the production of pasture is a most costly operation, and it takes 
a lifetime to convert arable land into pasture." 
The latter remark is borne out by several of our correspon- 
dents. It appears too true, according to experience in many 
localities. But the task of converting arable land into pasture 
is not everywhere so discouraging. The operation is certainly 
costly, and it takes a long time before repayment commences. 
But in moist climates on quick fertile alluvial soils, or on those 
resting on carboniferous or mountain limestone, or red sand- 
stone, a fresh good pasture may be made in a comparatively 
short time with proper care and attention. On sandy or chalky 
soils, and on poor strong clays, the case is different, and the 
work is one of considerable time and labour. Indeed, on all 
poor soils it is difficult to form a good pasture. It will be found 
more profitable to keep these under the plough, as they will 
occasionally throw a fair crop of roots, which, if eaten on the 
land, will be followed by a fair crop of corn. 
*' Occasionally," says Mr. Egan, " we mow some grass land, 
that which has the thinnest sward, the seeds from the hay 
having a tendency to improve it" (p. 486). The improvement pro- 
bably is not entirely due to the seeding of the land. The con- 
tinual grazing or continual mowing of grass produces a special 
character of herbage, and I have both seen and experienced the 
best results from mowing for two or three successive years old 
grass land, and the grazing for a similar period meadow land 
which had been annually mown for a long series of years. 
Many of the coarse grasses and weeds peculiar to fields annually 
mown are destroyed by a few years' grazing, and the weeds that 
will sometimes infest grazing pastures are likewise destroyed by 
mowing, and the patchy appearance of the fields corrected. A 
somewhat corroborative testimony on this point is afforded by Mr. 
J. Archer, who says, " if in spite of the artificials consumed by 
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