The Culture of Grasses.
A close and sound turf may be consid ered as the best manure yet discovered, on which account it is justly remarked, that those who have grass can at any time have corn, the reverse of which is by no means true. Excellent grass lands, there fore, are valuable, not only directly, for the food of cattle, but indirectly, as con taining ample means of raising grain, never failing, upon being broken up, to produce, for a time, a succession of va luable crops, whether of grain or roots. The small degree of labour and hazard attending the pasture of land recom mends it to many ; and also the opportu nity it supplies of laying out considerable property to great advantage in stock. Lands are preserved by it in good condi tion, and large estates may be managed under it with peculiar ease.
Grass lands, designed to he cut for hay, are to he distinguished from those on which the herbage is intended to be consumed by cattle on the spot: In fields of the latter kind, properly called pastures, manure is supplied by the cat tle; in the others it must be applied ar tificially, as large crops of hay exhaust the land, and always in proportion to the maturity which the herbage is suffered to attain before cropping, while nothing is returned to the soil, for all that is thus detached from it In consequence, more er, of depasturing lands, the plants, being unable to propagate themselves by seed, do it by root, forming a compact and matted turf, incapable of sending forth strong and powerful stems, to form a good crop of hay, but abounding in slender said delicate shoots, such as the closeness of the turf will alone permit to pass, and which constitute a most nou rishing and ple asing food for cattle. These two modes of employing land therefore should not be intermixed. What has for some time been applied to either pur pose should, by all means, be permitted to remain so; and to attempt to alternate the application of grass lands between pasture and cropping, is an effectual me thod of completely defeating. both objects.
The difficulty of restoring old, rich, and clean pastures to their original state, after their being broken up, should ever prevent their being so, unless in very extraordinary cases. In common times they can be applied to no better purpose than their actual one whenever it is ex pedient to direct them to the raising of gmin, they will be certain to produce it in Immense abundance.
With respect to the improvement of which grass lands are generally suscepti ble, those, of course, should in the first instance be applied to them, which are connected with draining anti inclosure, which happily coincide with each other, as the ditch serves at once for dividing and defending the land, ancl for clearing off' the redundant moisture. Irrigation also, which, as well indeed as the last mentioned topics, has been already ad verted to, from its obvious and admirable utility to pasture, will derive every atten tion in this connection. In spring a heavy wooden roller should be applied, when the weather is moist, as it vein then make the greater impression. The roots of the plants will thus be fixed in the soil. The mould will be crushed, and the worm casts levelled by this practice ; and the ground is prepared by it for the applica tion of the scythe, which will, in conse quence of this operation, cut deeper, and with more facility.
The stocking of poor pastures with sheep, rather dm black cattle, is of parti cular consequence to their improvement, and the perseverance in this practice for years, the sheep being folded upon the spot, has been more recruiting to poor soils, than any other practice. A habit of matting its roots is given to the grass by the close bite of these animals, and a growth of delicate herbage is promoted. Weeds are likewise cleared by sheep, as every thing young and tender (even heath and broom) is readily eaten by them. By means also of the dung, neces sarily arising, an amelioration of the soil as well as produce takes place, of extreme and surpnsing importance. The sweet ness of the feed on the downs of Wilt shire arises, not so much from any natu ral and characteristic excellence of the grass grown on them, as from its being kept close, and eaten a.s rapidly as it vege tates. It has been remarked, that, on cer tain poor soils, it requires much more time to produce the second inch of vege tation than the first, making allowance for the fuller developement and size ac companying the second ; a circtunstance indicating that the preference should in such cases be given to the feeding by sheep rather than by cattle. The for mer remarks, however, on this subject, concerning the inapplicability of land thus depastured, for rearing. crops of hay, must never be forgotten.