PASTURE. 
7G8 
lay upon it; but this fhould be laid in pretty good 
quantities, otherwife it will be of little fervice to the 
land. 
If the ground is over-run with bullies or rulhes, it 
will be of great advantage to grub them up towards the 
latter part of the futnmer, and after they are dried to 
bum thems and fpread the afhes over the ground juft be¬ 
fore the autumnal rains ; at which time the furface of the 
land Ihould be levelled, and fown with grafs-feed, which, 
if done early in the autumn, will come up in a fliort time, 
and make good grafs the following fpring. So alfo, 
where the land is full of mole-hills, thefe fhould be pared 
off, and either burnt for the allies, or fpread immediately 
on the ground where they are pared off, obferving to 
fow the bare patches with grafs-feed, juft as the autumnal 
rains begin. 
There are fome pafture-lands which are full of ant-hills, 
which are not only difagreeable to the fight, but, where 
they are in any quantity, the grafs cannot be mowed; 
therefore the turf which grows over them fhould be di¬ 
vided with an inftrument into three parts, and pared off 
each way 5 then the middle or core of the hills fhould be 
dug out and fpread over the ground, leaving the holes 
open all the winter to deftroy the ants, and in the fpring 
the turf may be laid down again ; and, after the roots of 
the grafs are fettled again in the ground, it fhould be 
rolled to fettle the furface, and make it even. If this is 
properly managed, it will be a great improvement to fuch 
land. 
Where the land has been thus managed, it will be of 
great fervice to roll the turf, in the months of February 
and March, with a heavy wooden roller, always obferving 
to do it in moift weather, that the roller may make an 
smpreflion : this will render the furface level, and make 
it much eafier to mow the grafs than when the ground 
lies in hills; and will alfo caufe the turf to thicken, 
fo as to have what the people ufually term a good bot¬ 
tom. The grafs likewife will be the fweeter for this 
hufbandry, and it will be a great help to deftroy bad 
weeds. 
Another improvement of upland pafture, is the feed¬ 
ing them every otheryear ; for, where this is not praCtifed, 
the land muft be manured at leaft every third year; and, 
where a farmer has much arable land, he will not care 
to part with his manure to the pafture. Therefore every 
farmer fhould endeavour to proportion his pafture to 
his arable land, efpecially where manure is fcarce, other- 
wife he will foon find his error; for the pafture is the 
foundation of all the profit which may arife from the ara¬ 
ble land. 
Whenever the upland paftures are mended by manure, 
there fhould be a regard had to the nature of the foil, 
and a proper fort of manure applied; as, for inftance, 
all hot fandy lands fhould have a cool manure; neat’s 
dung and fwine’s dung are very proper for fuch lands, 
as alfo marie and clay; but, for cold lands, horfe-dung, 
afhes, orfand, and other warm manures, are proper. And, 
when thefe are applied, it fhould be done in autumn, be¬ 
fore the rains have foaked the ground, and rendered it 
too foft to cart on ; and it fhould be carefully fpread, 
breaking all the clods as fmall as pofiible, and early in 
the fpring harrowed with bullies, to let it down to 
the roots of the grafs. When the manure is laid on at 
this feafon, the rains in winter will wafh down the falts, 
fo that the following fpring the grafs will receive the ad¬ 
vantage of it. 
There fhould be alfo great care taken to deftroy weeds 
in the pafture, every fpring and autumn. “ Not a weed,” 
fays Mr. Marfliall, “ought to feed, nor a tuft of ftale 
grafs be fuffered to Hand, in a pafture-ground; which 
fhould at leaft once during the fummer be levelled with 
the fcythe ; thus, at a fmall expenfe, converting weeds 
into nutriment, and wafte-ground into after-grafs.” 
Thefe upland paftures feldom degenerate the grafs 
which is fown on them, if the land is tolerably good ; 
whereas the low meadows, which are overflowed in win¬ 
ter, in a few years turn to a harfh rufliy grafs; but the 
upland will continue a fine fweet grafs for many years 
without renewing. 
There is no part of hufbandry', of which the farmers 
are in general more ignorant, than that of the pafture ; 
moft of them fuppole, that, when the old pafture is 
ploughed up, it can never be brought to have a good 
fward again ; fo their common method of managing 
their land after ploughing, and getting two or three 
crops of corn, is, to fow with their crop of barley fome 
grafs-feeds as they call them ; that is, either the red clo¬ 
ver, which they intend to ftand two years after the corn 
is taken off the ground, or ray-grafs mixed with trefoil; 
but, as all thefe are at moft bur biennial plants, whofe 
roots decay foon after their feeds are perfected, fo the 
ground, having no crop upon it, is again ploughed for 
corn ; and this is the conftant round which the lands are 
employed in, by the better fort of farmers. But it is 
very pofiible to lay down land, which has been in tillage, 
with grafs, in fuch manner as that the fward fhall be as 
good, if not better, than any natural grafs, and of as long 
duration. This, however, is never to be expected in 
the common method of fowing a crop of corn with the 
grafs-feeds ; for, wherever this has been praCtifed, if the 
corn has fucceeded well, the grafs has been very poor 
and weak ; fo that, if the land has not been very good, 
the grafs has fcarcely been worth Handing; for the fol¬ 
lowing year it has produced but little hay, and the year 
after the crop is worth little, either to mow or feed. 
Nor can it be expected it fhould be otherwife, for the 
ground cannot nourifh two crops; and, if there were no 
deficiency in the land, yet the corn, being the firlt, and 
moft vigorous of growth, will keep the grafs from mak¬ 
ing any confiderable progrefs; fo that the plants will 
be extremely weak, and but very thin, many of them 
which came up in the fpring being deftroyed by the corn ; 
for, wherever there are roots of corn, it cannot be ex¬ 
pected there fhould be any grafs. Therefore the grafs 
muft be thin; and, if the land is not in good heart to 
fupply the grafs with nourifhment, that the roots may 
branch out after the corn is gone, there cannot be any 
confiderable crop of clover; and, as the roots are bien¬ 
nial, many of the ftrongeft plants will perifh foon after 
they are cut; and the weak plants, which had made but 
little progrefs before, will be the principal part of the 
crop for the fucceeding year, which is many times not 
worth Handing. 
Therefore, when ground is laid down for grafs, there 
fhould be no crop of any kind fown with the feeds; and 
the land fhould be well ploughed, and cleaned from weeds ; 
otherwife the weeds will come up the firft, and grow fo 
Itrong as to overbear the grafs, and, if they are not 
pulled up, will entirely fpoil it. The beft feafon to fow 
the grafs-feeds upon dry land is about the middle of Au- 
guft, if there is an appearance of rain ; for, the ground 
being then warm, if there happen fome good fhow’ers of 
rain after the feed is fown, the grafs will foon make its 
appearance, and get fufficient rooting in the ground be¬ 
fore winter, fo will not be in danger of having the roots 
turned out of the ground by the froft, efpecially if the 
ground is well rolled before the froft comes on, which 
will prefs it down, and fix the earth clofe to the roots. 
Where this has not been praCtifed, the froft has often 
loofened the ground fo much, as to let in the air to the 
roots of the grafs, and done it great damage; and this 
has been brought as an objection to the autumnal flawing 
of grafs; but it will be found to have no weight, if the 
above direction is praCtifed; nor is there any hazard in 
flawing the grafs at this feafon, but that of dry weather 
after the feeds are fown ; for, if the grafs comes up well, 
and the ground is well rolled in the middle or end of Oc¬ 
tober, and repeated the beginning of March, the fward 
will be clofely joined at bottom, and a good crop of hay 
may be expeCted the fame fummer. In very open ex- 
pofed 
