The Herbage of Old Grass Lands. 
421 
ttieadows which come annually under the scythe, such know- 
ledge is not difficult to acquire ; but in the case of many of the 
best pastures, which are continuously grazed but never mown, 
many obstacles present themselves. A pasture may possess 
excellent fattening properties, or it may be famous for the rich 
and copious flow of milk it promotes ; but from the very fact 
that it is always grazed, an exact knowledge of the botanical 
composition of its herbage may remain a sealed book even to 
those who see the pasture daily. Certainly it would be possible 
to fence in a small portion of a pasture, and so allow the enclosed 
area to declare the specific character of the plants growing upon 
it ; but it would be difficult and expensive for one observer to 
keep a number of these under constant inspection in different 
parts of the country. There is one other practicable method, 
and that is to collect typical specimens of the turf from a number 
of the best grass lands, and grow them all side by side in one 
place, so that they can be subjected to continuous inspection 
and examination. This is the system I have followed in the 
experiments now to be described. 
As it might be objected that paring off a turf and trans- 
porting it to another soil might influence the development of 
the herbage, favouring the growth of some species and hinder- 
ing that of others, I arranged that, notwithstanding its removal, 
each turf should continue to grow upon its own soil. Thus, my 
request to those gentlemen who have so kindly aided me was 
that each turf should be cut 2 feet long, 1 foot broad, and 
9 inches deep, and in the majority of cases these dimensions 
have been adhered to. The superficial area of each turf is thus 
about nine times that of the turf upon which Curtis made his 
observations at the end of last century, whilst the depth of 
9 inches is quite sufficient for, at any rate, one season's growth. 
In the Botanical Garden, at the College of Agriculture, 
Downton, I set apart a bare fallow bed, 72 feet long by 6 feet 
broad, and, as the turfs came to hand, holes were dug in the bed 
and each turf was planted so as to bring the herbage to the 
level of the general surface ; the turfs were planted symmetri- 
cally along the middle of the bed, and between each turf there 
was left a bare space somewhat exceeding the width of the turf. 
The first turf was planted on November 29, 1887, and is called 
No. 1, the others receiving consecutive numbers in the order in 
which they were planted. The bed was kept free from weeds 
throughout the season, but the turfs received no attention what- 
ever — they were simply allowed to grow, and were periodically 
inspected, every species on each turf being noted as soon as it 
became recognisable, a record also being kept in my note-book 
