438 
Laying down Land to Grass. 
grasses are sheltered by the growing corn, and the sale of the 
grain raised together with the straw pays a good portion of the 
expense of laying down. In respect of shelter, I have found no 
need for it either with spring- or with autumn-sown seeds. As to 
the corn repaying the expense, there might have been some force 
in the argument when wheat was worth IQs. per bushel ; but at 
the prices which have ruled of late, I cannot think the practice 
can pay, more particularly when it is remembered that corn and 
grass belong to the same natural order of plants, and therefore 
extract from the soil the same elements of plant-food. It should 
further be borne in mind that an essential point in laying 
down is to get the land into good heart ; to go therefore the 
straightest way to take out the very condition required for the 
sustenance of the grass plants surely cannot be wise or a course 
to be commended. 
With respect to the sacrifice attending a two-years' fallow, 
I would observe that it is simply the rent, the rates, and the 
cost of an extra ploughing and one or two scarifyings of 
the easily moved tilth. Land which has been highly farmed 
for a number of years may safely be sown down after one 
year's fallow. I have a 10-acre field near to my house which, 
being in high condition, I sowed down in this way in 1876, 
and which promises well, no renovating grasses being at present 
necessary. Whichever method is pursued, the land should be 
scrupulously clean before sowing. 
I have stubbed up 30 acres of wood, most of which was sown 
down after a summer's fallow, and with fair success, but I should 
be disposed to adopt the two-years' method in future, and this 
with a view to give the raw soil, a good deal of which is inva- 
riably brought to the surface, a more thorough aeration ; I have 
come to this conclusion, inasmuch as a piece I sowed down in 
1877, after one year's fallow, requires renovating grasses this 
spring. 
Great diversity of opinion exists as to whether the grass-seeds 
should be sown in the spring or in the autumn. Having tried 
both plans, I have no hesitation in expressing an opinion in 
favour of the latter, and for this reason : if sown in the spring, 
when vegetation is quick, the weeds run a race with the grasses, 
get possession of the ground, and entail great expense in weed- 
ing ; if sown in the autumn, when vegetation is less quick, 
the grasses have a clearer course, grow more rapidly than weeds, 
and a thicker plant of grass is the result. The heavy and light 
seeds should be sown separately but simultaneously, one sower 
following the other. 
To lay down absolute rules for the treatment of ncwb'-sown 
pastures is far easier than, according to my experience, is the 
