430 
The Herbage of Old Grass Lands. 
and thrive extremely well upon. The meadow is considered well suited to 
grow either beef or mutton. It is grazed at present (February 18) with 
dairy cows, which develop well upon it, and give abundance of rich 
produce." 
The specimens sent had the appearance of a brownish clay 
loam, rather stony. The herbage was cut on July 23, and gave 
the following result : — 
Gramineous herbage . 65] 
Leguminous herbage . • 3 [ 100 
Miscellaneous herbage . , , , , , 32 j 
The grasses were separated into : — 
Loliun; perenne .. . a . < f ■ . 90" 
Dactylis glomerata 8 
Avena flavescens . • • > t i ■ 1 )-100 
Cynosurus cristatus ^ 
Agrostis sp. j- . • . . . . 
The small quantity of leguminous herbage consisted, to the 
extent of two-thirds, of Trifolium repens, the remainder being 
Lotus corniculatus. Six-sevenths of the miscellaneous herbage 
was made up of Rumex Acetosa ; the remainder was Prunella 
vulgaris, Ranunculus bulbosus, and Cerastium triviale, in the 
order indicated. 
No. 13. — -A turf sent by Mr. Frank Minohead, of Cloona 
Castle, Ballinrobe, county Mayo, who writes as follows : — 
" The turf was taken from the best pasture field on this farm. The field 
lies near Ballinrobe, and so far as I can judge will be 150 feet above sea- 
level. The soil is a light limestone soil lying on limestone rock, with a 
depth of earth of 22 inches, and then a subsoil of poor, weak, yellow clay 
and sand on the particular part of the field where the sample was taken. 
The field has not been under tillage in the memory of any one about here. 
It has been pastured by sheep mostly, but black polled cattle have been 
put into it at nights in the early part of winter, and during the day only 
as the weather got more severe. The rainfall here will be nearly 40 inches ; 
the soil dries very quickly, even after heavy rain. The rain, as a rule, is 
well distributed over the whole year, so that the climate is favourable in 
that respect for grass. The winter is never severe ; we have a few days' 
frost now and then, with a little snow, but fields are rarely imfit for cattle 
or sheep to procure what grass may be on them. There has been no extra 
food consumed on the field where the turf was cut for at least six years. 
The field is always much greener and the grass closer eaten than the 
generality of this big farm — 2,200 acres — showing the quality of the grass 
to be the best we have." 
The specimen had the appearance of a chocolate-coloured loam. 
The herbage, cut on July 26, gave the following results : — 
Gramineous herbage 2i\ 
Ijeguminous herbage , , , . . , , 6 1100 
Miscellaneous herbage 70 J 
The grasses were thus composed : — 
