On Permanent and Temporary Meadows and Pastures. 197 
Advantages of laying down Land to Grass for short terms. — 
Artificial grasses which we intercalate in the rotation of crops, 
on arable lands, have the advantage of being sown on a soil 
Avhicli is frequently aerated by tillage, and on which they are 
not left sufficiently long for those causes of deterioration to be 
exerted, which we have just indicated in the case of permanent 
grass-lands. Much larger yields are therefore obtained from 
them. 
Grass-lands laid down on the plan recommended by M. Goetz 
are simply grasses sown on soils deeply ploughed and suitably 
manured, and are at any rate, at first, in the same condition as 
temporary grass-lands. 
This is why very high returns are obtained from them for the 
first two or three years. But if it is intended to maintain them 
and so transform them into permanent pasture, all the causes of 
deterioration which I have pointed out are gradually developed, 
and the yield soon sinks, do what we may, to a level, variable 
according to circumstances, from which it will be impossible to 
raise it again without breaking up the soil afresh. Hence the 
failures which the Goetz method has entailed on farmers who 
have sought to make it the basis of their system of farming. 
Of all the various methods for producing hay, the best, without 
doubt, is that of temporary leys, composed either of graminaceae 
alone, or of a mixture of graminacese and leguminosae, according 
to the nature of the soil. Are not fields of leguminosae, such as 
clovers, sainfoin, lucerne, which are of such service in well- 
directed farming, simply temporary grass-lands? The merits 
which have so long been recognised in them, belong equally 
to temporary occupation by graminaceae, and these have, more- 
over, the advantage of being serviceable as pasture, which i& 
only seldom the case with fields of artificial leguminous 
grasses. 
Comparison between Hay-growing and Depasturing. — For the 
purpose of determining accurately the practical advantage of 
depasturing, I made, in conjunction with M. Vilmorin, an experi- 
ment, of which the results were as follows : — 
Two pieces of land of the same extent were ploughed up and 
sown with a mixture of graminaceae and leguminosae in 1879. 
In 1880, the grasses being well established, we mowed one of 
the pieces, as soon as the greater number of the species on it 
were in flower. We obtained our first cut on June 9th, 1880. 
The surface of the piece was 18*42 yards square. The weight 
of the crop green was 96'53 lbs. avoirdupois. After turning 
and drying in the air, the weight was reduced to 38-61 lbs., 
and when completely dried, at 100° C, the total weight of hay 
