470 
Report of the Judges on the 
them here, but we may remark that there appears to be no very 
general rule observed in laying down land to grass. One com- 
petitor (not a prize-taker) told us, in reply to an observation of 
the great difficulty in turning some land to good grass, " that he 
never saw the land he could not make lay." His process, 
perhaps, was not original, but was certainly inexpensive. Broad 
clover only was planted with the last crop (curiously enough in 
one instance it was sown with vetches), and then the land was 
for some years dressed with seeds from the hay-loft, and now and 
then manured. We fancy a great deal of the grass-land of the 
kingdom has been produced in this manner, for almost all the 
pastures of the Midlands were once under the plough. And it 
struck us that the pastures recently formed by sowing carefully 
selected seed have already made a sweeter turf than some of the 
old grass-land. They do not yet possess the strength or produce 
the bulk of the older meadows, but there is the absence of 
black couch and other coarse herbage that is often seen in really 
good old grass-land. 
The treatment young pastures receive is also not very uniform. 
All agree that liberal manurings and dressings of compost are 
essential to new grass-land, but there appears also a very general 
concensus of opinion that grazing stock with decorticated cotton- 
cake is one of the cheapest and easiest modes of improving new 
pastures. It is to the liberal use of this most valuable artificial 
food that the late tenant of Croxden Abbey attributed the great 
and speedy improvement of his new pastures. It appeared to 
us somewhat singular that all the young stock we saw upon 
those farms, which had to graze on the fields during the winter, 
Mr. Carrington invariably fed himself, by throwing the cake, 
broken into lumps, and the dust removed, upon the ground. He 
carried the cake in two saddle-bags upon his pony, and this 
practical man of business contended that there was little or no 
waste, that every animal could secure its proper portion, and 
that there was no treading up the grass around tubs or bins, 
which is sure to result in wet weather unless they are constantly 
moved. The excellent condition in which these well-bred cattle 
were wintered, without shed or yard to shelter them, reminded 
us of the manner in which pedigree Shorthorns are treated in 
America. 
The rents of the different farms we inspected appeared to us 
high, but not excessive, in favourable seasons, when their 
situation and advantages were considered. We were glad to 
find a rebate of about 10 per cent, was generally made to enable 
the tenants to tide over these bad times, but in no case did we 
hear of any permanent reduction of rents being made. Upon 
one farm we learnt that, in addition to the usual percentage, 
