444 
The Herbage of Old Gi-ass Lands. 
The "other grasses" include nine species, but of these, Aira 
csespitosa, Avena pubescens, Bromus mollis, and Festuca pra- 
tensis were detected each in one year only ; Poa pratensis and 
Briza media each in two years only ; Anthoxanthum odoratum 
in three of the years ; and Alopecurus pratensis and Hordeum 
pratense in all four years. The lowest percentage of Lolium 
perenne was recorded in 1879 (28 per cent.), and the highest in 
1882 (50 per cent.), but this species was always first amongst 
the grasses, whilst no other grass secured for itself an invariable 
position. Of the leguminous herbage more than 99 per cent, is 
Trifolium repens, the remainder being Trifolium pratense. 
It is with considerable satisfaction I avail myself of the per- 
mission given me by Sir John Lawes and Dr. Gilbert to quote 
these results, but I think it right to state that the whole of the 
results obtained upon my own turfs were already in the printer's 
hands before I had seen the figures just quoted. 
In Mr. James A. Caird's valuable paper ' on " Recent Ex- 
periences in laying down Land to Grass," he speaks of " the 
evident pei'ennial nature of the ryegrass on Newcastle Town 
Moor." And visitors to the Royal Agricultural Society's Show at 
Nottingham in July, 1888, can hardly have failed to notice, 
in Wollaton Park, the abundance of Lolium perenne near the 
hoardings, and in other places where the herbage had been 
allowed to grow. 
During the season, and whilst the turfs were in growth, they 
were inspected at Downton by many agriculturists from different 
parts of the country, and the noteworthy preponderance of 
Lolium perenne and Trifolium repens was obvious to all ob- 
servers ; so much so, in fact, that before half the plots had been 
looked at I got quite accustomed to hear the remark, " They 
seem to be mostly ryegrass and white clover." Amongst the 
gentlemen to whom I had the pleasure of showing the experi- 
ments was Mr. William Young, J.P., an experienced Irish agri- 
culturist, and the abundance of ryegrass led to some conversation 
between us, as a result of which Mr. Young kindly sent me a 
letter from which I extract the following salient points : — 
" I had paid a visit to Sharsted Court in June, 1884, and being pleased 
■with the appearnnce of the recently laid down pastures there, concluded to 
adopt a modification of the seeding recommended by Mr. Faunce de Laune. 
Accordingly, in the spring of 1885, having twenty English acres to lay 
down, I adopted the seeding named below. The land was a good loam 
resting on limestone rock and limestone gravel, it had been well manured, 
and had grown a good crop of mangels and swedes — half the crop eaten on 
the land by sheep, consuming at the same time cake and corn. It was 
' Journal of tiic Itoyal Agr 'milhirallSociety, Part I., 1888, p. 148, 
