JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. t Member p, m*. 
manent grasses, and such as may be sown with the full promise of 
success in the formation of a first-class permanent pasture upon 
any soil suitable in other respects for the production of a turf, and 
are as follows :—Cocksfoot (Dactylis glomerata), Meadow Fescue 
(Festuca pratensis) and its ally Tall Fescue (Festucaelatior), Cats- 
tail or Timothy (Phleum pratense), and Meadow Foxtail (Alope- 
curus pratensis). These five grasses should form the bulk of all 
pastures on nearly every soil as furnishing food for sheep or cattle. 
The Clovers to be used in smaller quantities or proportions than 
the grasses are permanent Red Clover, Alsike or Yellow Suckling, 
and permanent White or Dutch Clover. We must not, however, 
forget that upon all dry soils intended for sheep walk or park 
lands seeds of Milfoil or Yarrow (Achillea millefolium) ought 
never to be omitted. The above-named are really all the plants 
required for a permanent pasture of the highest feeding value and 
quality on first-rate or medium soils in nearly all parts of the 
kingdom. On inferior soils, however, these grasses may not all of 
them be suitable, and a selection must be made. Thus on most 
strong cold soils Foxtail rough meadow grass may be used, and 
some of the finer grasses should be omitted and a smaller quantity 
of Meadow Fescue and Tall Fescue used, while a greater propor¬ 
tion of Cocksfoot should be substituted. Before saying more we 
must state that it is a common thing, as recommended by the seeds¬ 
men, to use a certain portion of the seeds of perennial, biennial, 
and annual grasses. The two latter, however, if not all three of 
them, ought in our opinion under ordinary circumstances to be 
carefully excluded when a permanent pasture is desired, for 
reasons which we have previously stated. 
With reference to quantities of seed, we recommend per acre is 
aB follows Cocksfoot, 8 lbs.; Meadow Fescue, Tall Fescue, 
Timothy, and Meadow Foxtail, of each 5 lbs. ; Red Clover, 3 lbs.; 
Yellow Suckling, 3 lbs.; White Dutch, 6 lbs. Upon dry land for 
park purposes and sheep walk we would leave out the Red Clover 
and substitute 3 lbs. of Yarrow. The total will be 40 lbs. per acre, 
and by no means an excessive or expensive seeding in any season, 
because none of the sorts recommended will die away if properly 
cared for and manured every year. There is, however, one point 
to be considered—that in the absence of chalk on good loams, 
marl on light and gravel soils, lime on very strong soils, and sand 
or gravel on peaty soils, none of our best grasses however manured 
can be made permanent and really productive, for when these 
items are absent the real and true bases of valuable pasture are 
wanting. 
We must now make some reference to the various modes of 
manuring, as well as the substances at our command and their 
mode of application—whether by the means of direct manuring 
or by the consumption of cake, &c., by sheep and cattle. It is 
well known that in the majority of grazing farms in Cheshire the 
direct application of bones and bone ashes have been most succes- 
ful; but upon inquiry as to the nature of the soils, it is ascertained 
that these clay soil pastures contain upon analysis a large amount 
of potash—one of the chief ingredients required in the successful 
formation of permanent pasture, but a more or less absence of 
lime. At the same time there appears to have been in other 
districts a constant inquiry why bones should not have the same 
effect on pasture land of a similar nature, as well as in Cheshire. 
The correct answer to this is, that wherever there is present in the 
soil a large or sufficient amount of carbonate of lime, in whatever 
form or mixture with soils it may be found, bone earth is of but 
little use, that also on clay soils potash may be wanting. Upon 
ascertaining this by analysis, farmyard manure, as well as the 
German kainit containing potash, should be applied in connection 
with bone manures where grazing of cattle and sheep has been 
constantly carried out; for this removes, but especially by dairy 
cows, a large amount annually of carbonate of lime and bone 
earth. It is from this circumstance that the fattening of cattle or 
grazing by dairy stock eating cotton or linseed cake is advised, 
not only for the sake of fattening the animals, but that the pas¬ 
tures should benefit by the manurial residue of the fattening sub¬ 
stances, all of which being stated in the tables presented as esti¬ 
mated by Sir J. B. Lawes and printed in the Journal of the Royal 
Agricultural Society of England. 
(To be continued.) 
WORK ON THE HOME FARM. 
Horse Labour .—Much of the horse labour on the home farm has 
been seriousiy delayed or stopped entirely upon the land intended 
for Wheat. Fallow-ploughing for the land to lie the winter, however 
has been possible on the driest and chalk-hill soils, as well as the’ 
gravel and sandy lands, but upon strong soils and flat-lying tenacious 
clays no advantage has been obtained by ploughing them, although 
they may be required to remain untouched during the winter months 
The home farmer should remember that there is much to be done 
rather than allow the horses to remain idle when work cannot be 
done upon the land. It is important that all parts of the farm pre¬ 
mises, including the rickyards and various corners of the premises 
will be sure to bear grass and weeds of various kinds ; and in order to’ 
keep up a cleanly and neat appearance, so much valued by many 
gentlemen who have farms in their occupation, the horses and carts 
should be employed in carting away all these refuse matters, which 
may have been shovelled together by labourers employed for the 
puipose. The benefit to be derived from this work at odd times not 
only consists of keeping the premises in decent appearance, but that 
the materials of various kinds in earthy and vegetable substances 
which may be heaped will be decaying and forming a useful basis 
for many purposes, but especially for the use in connection with 
dung and chalk for making composts suitable for improving pastures. 
It is to be noted that any roadside earth, or that which can be 
obtained from banks and borders in the fields, should be carted 
together at odd times and formed into a conical heap, so that 
it may be covered or rough-thatched with hedge-trimming, sedge, 
and similar materials, in order that it may be kept dry for the 
purpose of making bottoms or floors for removal in all the pig pens, 
cattle pens, and boxes, including the stalls for dairy cows as well as 
for the cart-horse stables. This earth after being in heap for nine 
or ten months will prove mellow and may be picked down, taking a 
portion of the heap as may be required. We make these heaps 
about 12 feet wide at the bottom and draw upon them to tip the 
materials, except the portion at the top, which will be cast into form 
f ° r J t i ie ? Urp0Se of kee P il: ?g the main portion of the earth heap dry 
a ?i f for use when required, thus giving it an absolute power suit- 
l° r Y 16 . akove_name( l purposes. Large quantities of earth may 
thus be obtained, and the heap when extended lengthways may be 
- < l C( ^ as required without at all disturbing any portion of the heap 
which may have been recently put together. We have for many 
years used earthy compounds for* the purposes named, as much as 
from 150 to 200 cartloads in a year, according to the extent of the 
farm. This practice not only serves to fill up the odd time for horses 
which would be otherwise idle, but it also furnishes an enormous 
amount of manure, much of which would often be lost altogether • 
at the same time it tends greatly to the health and cleanly appear¬ 
ance of all the cattle when properly carried out, and which has been 
descnbed bj us at different times during the past five years in this 
Journal under separate headings, where the management of cattle 
in all its detail has been minutely described as carried out in our own 
practice. 
Hand Labour .—The late flooding rains will have made it quite 
necessary for the water meadows to have been carefully attended to 
by the diowners and labourers employed. The cutting of under- 
wood in the coppices and in the hedgerows, as well as the cutting of 
Ash and Elm timber, will have been going on. Planting young trees 
also should now be done, for the purpose of growth of Larch and 
Chestnut trees for hop-poles in the future. 
Live Stock .—The shepherd will have now the double care of 
attending the sheep, whether of ewes, hoggets, or wethers, and 
endeavour to keep them healthy by feeding on the driest land also 
to avoid the dirt on some soils. All the food, whether of roots cake 
or hay, should be given in troughs, to avoid waste, and by carefully 
feeding and filling the troughs with as much, and no more, food than 
the animals will eat before leaving the troughs great economy and 
avoidance of waste will be the beneficial result. In letters published 
lately m the Times newspaper, the question of “ ensilage ” has been 
brought to the farmers’ notice. This is neither more or less than a 
plan for preserving green fodder, such as Fetches, Trifolium, grass 
and Clovers in “silo,” which is a pit or tank formed for the purpose 
of receiving these green substances to be preserved for the feeding of 
cattle m the winter and spring months. This is not altogether a new 
practice, but it is fast coming to the front, and the home farmers may 
live and learn, for many have yet to be taught the best way of saving 
grass and other green crops. We have not tried it, but there is 
much to be said,j and has lately been said, of the plan, and that is 
worth a trial at any rate at the time of year, say the month of May 
and other summer months. It is recommended to cut your green 
fodder and bring it home immediately, cut it at once into the smallest 
pieces you can, and cast it into a pit, or silo as it is called : press it 
down closely so as to keep out the air, and cover it quite securely 
with earth or other heavy substances, and in a few months we are 
told that you will be able to cut it like cheese, and that your cattle 
will like it and thrive upon it. We are informed that this has been 
a practice on a farm in France a short distance from Paris by Vicomte 
Arthur de Chezelles, who puts into one pit the produce of 170 acres 
and cuts it out for his cattle when wanted. They are said to enjoy 
it, and, according to their respective destinations, fatten or give milk 
upon it admiiably. We hope to refer to the subject again more 
fully and in detail. 
SPOILING THE DORKING.—No. 2. 
I WAS certainly taken by surprise on finding that the Poultry 
Club are about to publish the points of excellence in poultry ; still 
