126 Recent JExj^eriences in laying down Land to Grass. 
at the end of this paper (page 15-5). The grazing counties disclose 
a slightly higher percentage of increase of rotation grasses and 
clovers than the corn-growing counties, the moister climate 
enabling the farmers to leave the land under these crops a year 
or two longer than it can be left w^ith the smaller rainfall of the 
eastern coast. 
With the object of obtaining independent evidence from 
practical men engaged in agriculture, the following list of ques- 
tions was sent out by me, and was well and ably responded to. 
The answers from the eastern, or corn-gi*owing counties, are 
placed first, followed by the replies from those counties in the 
mild and moist west, naturally suited to the growth of grass. 
Schedule of Questions. 
1. What is the nature of your soil and subsoil ? 
2. Is drainage necessaiy ; if so, was the land drained before sowing the 
grass ? 
3. What is the annual rainfall and character of the climate ? 
4. What seeds were sown ; was it a seedsman's mixture for permanent 
pasture, or a selection of your own ? 
5. Did the seeds include rye^ass ; if so, in what proportion ? 
6. Was the grass sown with or without a corn crop ? 
7. Are you in favour of spring or autumn sowing of seeds ? 
8. As a general rule, what has been your treatment of the new grass 
land with regard to pasturing it with cattle or sheep, cutting it for hay, and 
manuring ? 
9. Where ryegrass was included in the seed mixtures, have you noticed 
whether or not it disappeared in the course of a few years ? 
10. Where permanent pastures in the early years of theh* establishment 
have been used for feeding sheep, has there been, as a result, any diminution 
in the clover plant ? 
11. How many years do you consider it takes to form a good permanent 
pasture ? 
12. Have you had any experience of the result of land being allowed to 
form itself into pasture without seeds being sown P 
13. Wbere a large area of land, previously cultivated, has been laid 
down to permanent grass, is there a noticeable reduction in the population 
of the district ? 
14. Might it not be better to let the land remain three, four, or more 
years in grass, rather than lay it to permanent pasture ? 
15. Please add any general observations on other than the foregoing 
heads which may occur to you. 
Amongst the more important answers received to my Schedule 
of Questions wei'e the following : — 
Mr. Albert Pell, Ilazelbeach, North arapton, 
1, Heavy, sticky. Boulder clay with some oolite in Northamptonshire. 
Gault in Cambridgeshire. 
2. The land was drained ; some of it more than once before laying 
down. Drains 2^ feet to 3 feet, but 10 feet to IG feet for springs. 
