Laying down Land to Permanent Pasture. 
367 
the rye-grasses, may be specially fitted for alternate husbandry, 
it is obvious that permanent pasture should be formed by those 
grasses which have a perennial existence. 
But the eighty species of indigenous perennial grasses are not 
all suitable for feeding purposes ; many of them are rejected by 
stock. It is therefore necessary to make a selection from them 
in accordance with the tastes of the animals for which they are 
provided. And, further, it has been long noticed that some 
pastures which appear to consist of an abundant supply of good 
food, are yet unable to fatten stock. This must limit the 
selection of the grasses to those which, by experiment and 
observation, have been found to be nutritious as well as 
palatable. 
A prejudice exists against some grasses, which are supposed 
to be coarse, and are therefore rejected, when finer grasses can 
be obtained by the stock. But the chemical examination of 
some of these coarse grasses, and the careful observation of their 
effect on the stock, have shown that the grasses which are most 
productive are also those that are most nutritious. 
The number of these species is very limited. The observa- 
tions of Mr. Faunce-De Laune, which are supported by the testi- 
mony of previous careful observers, show that the ^best per- 
manent pasture grasses are the following five species : — Dactylis 
glomerata (Linn.), or cock's foot ; Phleum pratense (Linn.), or 
timothy ; Alopecums pratensis (Linn.), or meadow fox-tail ; 
Festuca pratensis (Huds.), or meadow fescue ; and Festuca elatior 
(Linn.), or tall fescue. 
These five grasses alone would supply favourite and nutritious 
food throughout the whole year. 
There should be added some Dutch and perennial red clovers. 
And some of the smaller, or so-called finer, grasses would be 
advantageously introduced in order to secure a compact turf — 
such grasses as Poa nemoralis, Poa trivialis, Agrostis stolonifera, 
Cynosurus cristatus, Anthoxantlium odoratum, and Festuca duri- 
uscula. But the real value of the pasture will depend upon the 
proportion of the five larger grasses which are found in it. 
Their first importance is still further shown by the fact that 
their roots continue to grow from year to year, and the plants 
consequently get a firmer hold on the soil, and, having a more 
extensive root system than annual grasses, they suffer less from 
drought. 
The exclusion of the short-lived rye-grasses, which are so 
overwhelming an ingredient in all permanent pasture mixtures 
in the market, will deprive the farmer of that speedy exhibition 
of a green and vigorous pasture so captivating to the eye, and 
so often accepted as the best testimony to the value of the 
