288 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER 
[ April 18S9. 
■devoted—not to the controversy, but rather to calling attention to 
useful matter brought out in the discussions, and to its application 
to practice. The subject crops up in a variety of ways and places. 
We have recently discussed it as a stock theme with farmers and 
professional men at market, on j'ourneys, and at the surveyors’ 
institution and other places. We have also heard it discussed with 
much animation and many positive statements in quiet country 
Ihouses, over the luncheon table of a City club within hail of 
Cheapside, and also over the dinner table of a stately West End 
mansion. 
As an outcome of all this there can be no doubt that the culture 
•of Perennial Rye Grass will be considerably extended, and that it 
will come into use much more generally in the formation of per¬ 
manent pastures. Apart from its persistent existence in such 
pasture, it should not be forgotten that it is especially valuable 
"there for its earliness. It makes vigorous growth long before any 
■other Grass, and for that reason alone it should be used. Eut there 
rare other good reasons for its use. Perhaps the most persistent, 
and we may add consistent, advocate of the use of this Grass in 
permanent pasture is Mr. Martin J. Sutton, and in his book on 
•“ Permanent and Temporary Pastures ” he says, “ One of the main 
reasons for including Perennial Rye Grass in mixtures.for per¬ 
manent pasture is its reliability for ensuring a plant. This is a 
matter of great importance, for if Grasses do not occupy the 
ground weeds will inevitably do so, and the Rye Grass yields a 
•crop during each of the two first years such as could not possibly 
be obtained without it. Again, the Rye Grass fosters the growth 
of other varieties, and aids the general progress and development of 
"those Grasses which are slow in coming to maturity.” We give 
this quotation from the work of a master whose knowledge of the 
■subj'ect is both thoroughly practical and comprehensive, derived as 
it is from wide observation and the exhaustive experiments at 
Dyson’s Wood, where the trials embrace the different sorts of 
■Grasses as well as of the manures used in their cultivation. 
While we do not recommend our readers to try and make their 
■own selection of Grasses and Clovers for permanent pasture, for to 
■do so successfully demands special knowledge not easily obtained, 
yet we do think it desirable that the chief points of excellence in 
the best Grasses should be known. It is not always that an appa¬ 
rently popular Grass is best. Take, for example, Agrostis alba 
.•3tolonifera, or Fiorin Grass. Especial praise has been bestowed 
upon this Grass for its late growth and value for winter herbage ; 
yet Mr. Sutton shows clearly that this is all that can be said in its 
favour, for he says, “ Cattle only eat it when they can get nothing 
better.” We have been told that it is hardly possible to obtain 
pure seed of Fiorin ; certainly ergot is almost invariably present 
with the seed, and if cases of abortion cannot be traced clearly to 
•ergot introduced into pastures by using Fiorin, there is the risk of 
it, and it should be avoided. 
Cocksfoot, which yields such wonderful crops in generous soil, 
is of value for its persistent quick growth after it is mown or fed 
off. In this valuable property it has no mean rival in Meadow 
Foxtail, which also grows again quickly, and yields an aftermath of 
great abundance. Mr. Sutton speaks highly of it, calling attention 
to the large proportion of leafy herbage to stalk, and to its value 
in pasture for yielding an abundance of herbage early in the season 
•of growth. This Grass is said to require three or four years after 
sowing for its full development, and it is precisely with such 
Grasses that Perennial Rye Grass proves most useful. Crested 
Dog’s-tail is another Grass requiring two or three seasons for the 
plant’s development ; yet it is one of our most useful Grasses, and 
is well worth waiting for. It is important that this slowness of 
development in some of the best Grasses in permanent pasture 
should be fully recognised, in order that assiduous and patient 
cultivation should be given to new pasture year by year. Greatly 
do we deplore the careless slovenly practice of laying down land to 
pasture and then leaving the result very much to chance. Only 
let pasture be cultivated as thoroughly as arable land, and every 
country side would present a very different aspect to what is now 
seen. Strange indeed is it how negligence has crept into this 
part of farming practice. One of the best corn farmers we know 
has his pastures in disgraceful plight. A wide stretch of marsh 
land has fully a third covered with common Rush, while the 
upland pasture is almost as foul with Ononis. 
WORK ON THE HOME FARM. 
While farmers in the west have to complain of land so saturated by 
heavy rain that tillage and sowing has been been seriously hindered, 
in the east Lent corn has gone in exceedingly well with hardly a stop¬ 
page worthy of record from adverse weather. Barley sowing in this 
favoured district is now practically ended, and horses and men are 
turned to fallows and root land. So dry has the surface become under 
the kindly influence of sun and wind, that many a foul field has been 
cleared and a corn crop sown upon what would otherwise have been 
bare till summer. Only get the land clean and then never suffer it to 
remain idle, provided it is really sound and free from superfluous water. 
Wisely and well do landlords who have farms thrown upon their hands 
do their utmost to improve them. That is the only way to render them 
profitable while in hand, and to attract tenants with sufficient means to 
hire and the requisite knowledge to cultivate them. In this landlords 
have a special duty to perform, and we hold that they have it now in 
their power to afford tenant farmers an example of what is possible in 
the way of profitable farming under present unfavourable conditions. 
Charlock is making its appearance freely among winter corn, and 
horse hoes should be briskly at work while the surface is so dry. After 
the hoeing, seed of Clover, Sainfoin, Lucerne, or mixed layers may be 
sown. If chemical manure is to be applied to winter corn it should be 
sown broadcast, before the hoeing is done, in order that it may be worked 
into the soil sufficiently to promote quick action ; otherwise we would 
only apply top-dressings of nitrogenous manures in showery weather, or 
in prospect of a change to such weather. There can be no doubt the 
careless or improper use of chemical manures has not only led to much 
waste, but to unsatisfactory results. But too often this has brought 
blame upon the manures, when it was really the farmer who was at 
fault. Nitrate of soda is somewhat expensive in comparison with the 
low price of last season, but even now a spring top-dressing of it need 
not exceed 11s. per acre if only it is obtained at wholesale prices. 
OUR LETTER BOX. 
Kainit v. Muriate of Potash (D. It. D .~).—Muriate of potash, 
80 per cent, basis, contains 41-9 per cent, potassium; kainit, 24 per cent, 
basis, contains 96 per cent, of potassium. The potash in the muriate 
is in the form of potassium chloride, in the kainit it is in the form of 
potassium sulphate ; the former is more soluble than the latter. Hence 
muriate of potash is four and one-third times as valuable to the farmer 
as kainit, which at £2 2s. Cd. per ton, multiplied by four and one-third, 
equals £9 3s. 8d., while muriate of potash only costs £8 5s. to £8 7s. 6d. 
per ton. The muriate is therefore not only the cheaper source of 
potash, but is also preferable, for the important reason that it is more 
soluble in water. Another important fact never to be forgotten is that 
potash is not washed out of soils by rain, the soils holding it most 
tenaciously. You will now understand why we do not include kainit 
in our prescriptions. 
l 
METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS, 
CAMDEN SQUABE, LONDON. 
Lat. 51° 82'40'’N.; Long. 0° 8' 0" W.; Altitude, lit feet. 
DATE. ! 9 A.M. I IN THE DAY. 
1889. 
Hygrome¬ 
ter. 
Direction 
of Wind. 
Temp, of 
soil at 
1 foot. 
Shade Tem¬ 
perature. 
Radiation 
Temperature. 
Bain. 
Marcb. 
Bat 
ter, 
and 
L< 
Dry. 
Wet. 
Max. 
Min. 
In 
snn. 
On 
grass 
Sunday . 
24 
Inches. 
30.235 
deg 
48.7 
deg. 
47.2 
s.w. 
deg. 
40.4 
deg. 
59.6 
deg. 
39.2 
deg. 
95.4 
deg. 
39.2 
In. 
0.032 
Monday. 
25 
30.024 
47.1 
46.2 
s.w. 
41-9 
58.8 
45 5 
98.3 
4M 
0.026 
Tuesday .... 
20 
20.03.5 
45 3 
no 
hf.W. 
421 
48.4 
39.3 
88.1 
333 
0.010 
Wednesday. 
27 
80.30* 
89.5 
350 
N. 
41.1 
43.7 
35.9 
9G.9 
30.6 
Thursday.... 
28 
3 '.407 
36.6 
32 8 
N.W. 
40 2 
51.6 
27.1 
91.6 
22.8 
0.024 
Friday . 
29 
30.353 
40 8 
40 4 
jsl.W. 
412 
58 4 
36.5 
69.7 
33.0 
Saturday ... 
80 
30.163 
40.1 
45 6 
N.W. 
42 9 
56.0 
42 5 
91.5 
3L7 
0.058 
30.217 
45.2 
42.5 
41.4 
54.5 
38 0 
89.5 
33.5 
0.150 
REMARKS. 
24th.—Cloudy morning, with 9light showers ; bright afternoon. 
25th.—Wet titl 11 A.M., then fine, and a little sunshine in afternoon ; clear night. 
26th.—Bright early, showers about 11 A.M, then bright again; cloudy afternoon, with 
spots of rain. , 
27th.—Generally cloudy morning; bright afternoon and evening. 
28th.—Bright all day, but hazy at times, showers in evening. 
29th.— Drizzle till about 9 A.M., dull morning, fair afternoon. 
30tb.—Occasional spots of rain, but otherwise fine, and frequently bright; showers at 
niglu. 
Weather generally near the average, temperature rather above It, but sharp frost 
on 28th.—G. J. SYMONS. 
