282 
On Fibrous Covering. 
lightly and evenly laid over growing grass, in the proportion of about a 
ton to a ton and a half per acre. At the end of a fortnight it must be 
raked up in heaps like haycocks, the grass eaten oflf by cattle, and the 
covering again relaid. This is necessary in the growing season, otlier- 
■wise the herbage will grow through, by which the action will cease ; the 
grass will also become entangled with the covering. If the land is good, 
the grass may be generally eaten off by cattle before the covering is 
again relaid : if not, at the end of the next fortnight (more or less, de- 
pending on the richness of the land, the season, and the weather), it 
should be done, and the covering relaid again ; and repeated at about 
these periods through the season. This process is called " lifting." If 
straw be the material used, it will last through the whole summer. In the 
autumn it is our practice to rake it off when dry, carry it aw^ay, and stack 
it for winter litter. This is generally done about the time when cattle 
are taken in to house for the winter. The rake used for lifting should 
be formed with steel teeth : wood teeth, being necessarily large and 
blunt, do not go sufficiently near the ground, or pass easily enough 
between the stems of grass to remove the covering properly. Any fibres 
left entangled in the herbage are found to be objected to by cattle when 
eating off the grass. The teeth should be four or five inches long, two 
inches apart, and a little curved, so as to lift upwards and deliver easily 
■when the rake is moved backwards. It is found in practice, after a little 
experience, that a woman will lift and relay about three-quarters of an 
acre per day. The rake, simple as it is, is almost necessary to good 
practical working ; and if the Council wish it, I will send you one. 
Ground, under the action of fibrous covering, we find from our returns, 
will keep three times the quantity of cattle as ground not so treated. 
This experience seems in keeping with our experiments on weight and 
measure of the produce thus obtained. 
I have kept notes of the botanical nature, development, and conditions 
of various natural and artificial grasses, when placed under the action of 
Gurneyism : they are much at your service, should you wish to have 
them. 
Charles Kingford Vacy, M.D., Hon. Sec. 
North Cormoall Experimental Club, 
April 16, 1846. 
