218 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ September 3, 188*. 
consist of native grasses and weeds ! The maintenance of 
some three or four sheep per acre was the utmost limit of its 
capacity, and if it was made into hay it was poor and innu- 
tritious, and the aftermath failed to impart that improvement 
to the milk of the dairy cows which is always obtained from 
really rich pasture. Bushes, Carnation Grass, and other 
coarse herbage was also frequently very prevalent, and this 
state of things was taken so entirely as a matter of course 
that we once heard the owner of a large estate say in a 
speech at a meeting of farmers, that he should be much 
obliged to anyone who could tell him how to get rid of coarse 
worthless herbage out of his meadows. 
How are we to reclaim such poor pasture ? Seedsmen 
offer us a tempting “ renovating mixture,” by the sowing of 
which we are told we shall effect a radical change in the 
quality of the pasture. But can we possibly suppose that 
even if the seed germinates, the roots of the seedlings will be 
able to become established in the soil, which is already 
crowded with the tough fibrous roots of native plants ? No, 
we will waste neither time nor money upon such doubtful 
practice ; the unprofitable old pasture is condemned as worth¬ 
less, and is got rid of as quickly as possible. The turf is 
pared, burnt, and the ashes spread over the surface, especial 
care being taken to let the burning follow the paring quickly, 
in order that the larva of insects as well as the seeds of 
weeds may be destroyed. If necessaiy, drainage is then seen 
to ; ploughing follows—not mere shallow ploughing with two 
horses, but deep ploughing, either with four horses, or, if prac¬ 
ticable, with steam tackle. August and September are the 
best months for this work, and the sowing of the seed is left 
till the following spring. It is not done then at any particu¬ 
lar time, but we wait till the soil is dry enough to be well 
worked and reduced to a fine tilth, so as to keep the 
seeds near the surface, and the sowing is then done, 
either with the grass mixture alone, or with white Mustard, 
to be eaten off by forward lambs. Most farmers are accus¬ 
tomed to sow the grass seed with a corn crop. In alternate 
husbandry, for a two or three-years layer, we do not 
object to the corn, but for permanent pasture it is so 
important to give the young plants a good start 
in soil well stored with fertility, that we regard a corn crop 
as decidedly objectionable. A green crop of brief duration, 
like white Mustard, does no harm, and the fact of its con¬ 
sumption by lambs in folds points to a valuable addition to 
the fertility of the soil, and to the young pasture having a 
favourable start. It is our treatment of the young growth 
during the first two years which determines its success or 
failure. We know that if we allow the young plants to grow 
unchecked, and to bear seed, that many will cease to exist 
after the first season. We also know that if sheep are turned 
in to roam about the new pasture at will, they consume some 
favourite sorts of grass and leave others untouched. We 
therefore pass forward lambs quickly over it, in such small 
folds that the whole of the herbage is eaten and new folds 
made every morning, and the lambs are passed from fold to 
fold, and are not suffered to leave them, but are taken away 
from the last fold to another meadow. They are again folded 
upon the young pasture as soon as it has made new growth, 
so that it is not let run up to seed, and no sheep are left upon 
it after the end of September. In the following spring old 
sheep are folded upon it, or the breeding flock is passed over 
it—always in folds ; and this system of folding is continued 
throughout the second year, or rather till October, when the 
sheep are withdrawn again, and it is left untouched till the 
beginning of another season of growth, when we must decide 
whether we shall use it for grazing or hold it in reserve for 
hay. If it is kept for hay it is mown first, before older pas¬ 
ture, so as to prevent any of the grass from seed-development, 
the best time being just as it is coming into bloom, and if all 
has gone well we shall be well rewarded for our pains by a fine 
crop of hay and a flourishing thick carpet of grasses and 
Clover, altogether superior to the poor herbage of the old 
pasture. 
Surely systematic treatment is as important for this as 
for any other crop, and it is simply owing to the want of it 
that failure or poor results follow the laying down of land to 
permanent pasture. For the process that we have thus briefly 
sketched is similar to that which should be followed in the 
laying down of any land, the points of most importance being 
well-drained fertile soil, a clean seed bed, a fine tilth, genuine 
seed sown without a corn crop, and careful management for 
the first two or three years. It is obvious that in passing 
sheep over the young pasture in folds for the first two years, 
the growth is eaten fairly, and the land enriched without an 
outlay for artificial or other manure, and sheep may still be 
regarded as the most profitable animals upon a farm, having 
regard to small profits and quick returns. It may be said 
that all profits in farming are now small, and this important 
fact should induce a closer looking after so-called trifles, and 
due attention to every detail of our work. 
[To be continued.) 
WORK ON THE HOME FARM. 
Harvest work has been somewhat hindered by rain, which was 
much wanted for grass and root crops, and it has done much good to 
Barley and no harm to any other corn. On the whole we are in the 
enjoyment of favourable harvest weather, corn ricks grow in number 
daily, and another week of fair weather will enable us to finish. Barley 
in exposed positions has suffered much from high wind. The straw was so 
sturdy that it was not lodged, but the ears were beaten off so much that 
stubble pigs find plenty of food there. As the pressure of harvest work 
ends, foul land will immediately be taken in hand, men with steel forks 
being set to fork out thick beds of couch grass, and horses used for the 
same purpose with horse hoes, cultivator harrows, and where land is very 
foul with ploughs too. Our best efforts should be given to turn every 
opportunity to account for getting the land clean, and now that we are 
upon this subject let us ask for more attention to the eradication of 
Thistles. The term is certainly appropriate, for the literal meaning of 
eradicate is to pull up by the roots, which is precisely what we would 
fain do to the Thistles. We have recently taken a farm in hand that is 
badly infested with them, and we find that it had come to be taken quite 
as a matter of course that there should be Thistles upon the land. Our 
resolution to get rid of them will cost us some trouble, for some two 
hundred acres may be said to be one huge Thistle bed. Where pulling 
is practicable it shall be done, but upon all firm land a little sulphuric 
acid will be poured upon every crown. This will be a tedious but 
thorough process, and we had far better do this than try to keep down 
this pest by means of hoeing and mowing. Old layers that are foul with 
couch grass will, if the weather holds fine, be pared and burnt, both to 
get rid of foul weeds and get a dressing of burnt soil and ashes for the 
land. 
Stubble Turnips may still be sown, and we must take care to sow 
Trifolium incarnatum in September. On a clean stubble we simply sow 
the seed broadcast and harrow it in, but if the land is foul the horse hoe 
and harrows are first passed over it several times, and then the seed is 
sown. For neatness it is always well to clear the stubble first with 
harrows, and the short litter is taken into the yards. Let hedges be 
clipped and made trim for winter while the wood is soft with sap, and 
the work is easy, and Jet foul ditches or watercourses be cleared while 
the water is low in readiness for winter floods. Stockyards should be 
got ready for winter. See that drains are in good order, and the water 
supply is as good and abundant as possible. Let lodges be put in repair 
and washed inside with hot lime, and prepare an ample store of litter for 
bedding and for the yards. 
METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 
Camden Square, London. 
Lat. 51° 32-40" N.; Long. 0° 8' 0" W.; Altitude, 111 feet 
DATE. 
9 A.M. 
IN THE DAY. 
fl 
OS 
1885. 
August. 
Barome¬ 
ter at 32« 
and Sea 
Level 
Hygrome¬ 
ter. 
Direction 
of Wind. 
Temp, of 
Soil at 
1 foot. 
Shade Tem¬ 
perature. 
Radiation 
Temperature 
Dry. 
Wet. 
Max. 
Min 
In 
Bun. 
On 
grass. 
Inches. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg 
In. 
Sunday . 
23 
29.907 
56.8 
52.0 
w. 
58 8 
64.9 
48.9 
80.3 
43.0 
— 
Monday. 
24 
30.028 
60.2 
54.6 
E. 
584 
67.4 
50.2 
78.2 
43.8 
— 
Tuesday. 
25 
30.060 
53.7 
53.1 
E. 
58.0 
72.4 
46.5 
95.6 
41.2 
— 
Wednesday . 
26 
30.016 
63.4 
08.9 
E. 
58.2 
73.1 
50.6 
113.8 
41.4 
0.249 
Thursday ... 
27 
29.945 
56.4 
55.1 
E. 
58.8 
63.4 
51.9 
93.8 
50.8 
o.ooa 
Friday. 
28 
29.861 
60.4 
55.5 
E. 
58.2 
67.1 
51.6 
108.7 
47.3 
— 
Saturday ... 
29 
29.843 
58.4 
51.5 
N.W. 
57.8 
70.0 
48.6 
118.4 
43.9 
— 
29.951 
58.5 
54.4 
58.3 
68 3 
49.8 
98.4 
44.5 
0.312 
REMARKS. 
23rd.—Dull, cold, and autumnal. 
2)th.—Hazy early ; fine and bright after 
25t,h.—Fog in morning ; fine after 11.30 A.M. 
2t!th.— Cloudy early ; tine and fairly bright afternoon and evening. 
-7th.—Rather heavy rain early, and slight till noon; brighter in afternoon; cloudy 
evening. 
28th.—Fair, but not much sunshine ; rather icindy. 
tilth.—Windy early, with occasional cloud and sunshine ; windy evening. 
Temperature still slightly falling and weather continuing dry.—G. J. SYMONS 
