Improvement  of  Old  Pasture. 
325 
It  has  been  once  hayed  (1903)  during  the  period  of  experiment, 
but  grazed  all  other  times.  There  were  only  three  plots 
marked  out,  one  with  2 tons  of  lime  per  acre,  a second  with 
8 cwt.  per  acre  of  basic  slag,  and  the  third  untreated.  Both 
lime  and  basic  slag  have  effected  an  improvement,  and  between 
them  there  is  not  much  to  choose.  On  the  basic  slag  plot 
white  clover  has  come  the  more  thickly,  but  on  the  lime  plot 
the  grasses  have,  if  anything,  become  more  palatal)le,  and  the 
pasture  is  perhaps  more  closely  grazed. 
County  Locality  Formation 
14.  Durham  Bishop  Auckland  (“  Wilkinson’s  Laud”)  Coal  measures 
This  was  a very  neglected  piece  of  land  in  1895,  typical 
of  a great  deal  of  the  grass  land  in  the  district.  Its  value  when 
the  experiments  began  could  not  have  been  put  at  more  than 
l.s’.  an  acre.  The  soil  was  comprised  of  a thin  black  top-soil  two 
and  a half  inches  deej),  followed  bj'  a mixture  of  yellowish-red 
sand  and  clay  with  sandy  subsoil.  Gorse  bushes,  thorn,  bramble, 
together  with  rushes,  wei-e  scatteretl  over  it  and  the  grasses  were 
principally  twitch  and  Yorkshire  fog,  clover  being  quite  absent. 
The  soil  was  extremely  deficient  in  phosphoric  acid  (O'Oti  per 
cent,  only)  and  also  poor  in  potash  (0T3  per  cent.)  and  nitrogen 
(0T3  per  cent.),  while  lime  was  by  no  means  abundant  (0'37 
per  cent.).  In  these  respects  the  soil  was  vastly  inferior  to 
either  “ Bell  Hills  ” or  “ Sheep  Pasture.”  The  field  is  always 
grazed.  This  has  proved  a most  useful  and  instructive  experi- 
ment, as,  since  the  work  was  taken  in  hand,  the  value  of  the 
pasture  has  gone  up  by  fully  7.s.  6rf.  an  acre  on  the  best  plots. 
Even  more  telling  is  the  fact  that  this  site  has  proved  a most 
instructive  “ object  lesson  ” to  the  neighbourhood,  and  has 
been  much  visited,  with  the  result  that  a good  deal  of  similar 
land  in  the  district  has  been  treated  in  a like  manner  and  with 
most  beneficial  results.  Not  long  after  the  work  of  improvement 
began,  the  tenant  asked  permission  to  apply  basic  slag  to  the 
rest  of  the  field,  and  he  also  treated  adjoining  fields  with  it. 
The  different  applications  tried  on  this  seemingly  “waste”  land 
were  : basic  slag,  8 cwt.  per  acre  ; lime,  4 tons  per  acx*e ; farm- 
yard manure,  15  loads  per  acre;  bone  meal,  4 cwt.  per  acre  ; 
mineral  superphosphate,  4 cwt.,  with  kainit,  3 cwt.  per  acre  ; and 
basic  slag,  fi  cwt.,  with  kainit,  3 cwt.  per  acre.  In  addition,  one- 
half  of  each  plot  was  harrowed  and  x’e-seeded.  The  harx'owing 
was  xxxidoubtedly  px-odxxctive  of  benefit,  rexnoving,  as  it  xlid,  a 
great  deal  of  the  roixgh  grass,  and  this  paid  was  better  grazed 
in  coxxsequence,  though  the  new  grasses  hardly  made  much 
show.  Basic  slag  (8  cwt.  per  acre)  has  undoubtedlj^  effected 
the  gx'eatest  good,  and  on  passing  to  this  plot  fx’om  the 
untreated  ax-ea  outside  it  is  clearly  seen  that  a complete  trans- 
fox-mation  has  been  made  ; the  rough  clumps  of  gx’ass  have  been 
