PASTURE LAND. There are tribes which have no other occu pation than that of pasturing domestic animals, and Immense tracts of fertile soil are still unappropriated to any definite owner. Where the climate is genial, and the extremes of heat and cold are unknown, cattle are fed all the year round by moving from ono place to another. In such a state are some of the wandering tribes of Asia, who have no fixed habitations, but pitch their tents wherever pasture is abundant, and move them to another spot as soon as it is consumed where they ah. In civilised countries, where the land is divided and appropriated, such a system cannot exist ; though there are still traces of it in this country, as we see in the few remaining waste lands, on which there is a right of common.
The pasturage of cattle is now a part of regular husbandry ; the land which affords the herbage for cattle forma part of private possessions, and a rent is paid for its use. This has introduced a new system. Pastures are now fenced and protected, and pains are takeu to improve them, so as to maintain many more cattle or sheep than they would in their natural state. We shall not here speak of rich grass lands, in which bullocks and sheep are fatted, and which are commonly called grazing land ; nor of artificial pastures, which form portions of amble farms, and have been depastured only to enrich them and make them more fit to produce corn when again submitted to the plough. But we shall consider those tracts of land which, from situation, climate, or other causes, although they are portions of certain estates and the property of individuals, lie nearly in a state of nature, and produce a revenue or profit only according to the number of cattle and sheep which can be reared or maintained in them. Such are the rich pastures on the Jura, the Alps, and Pyreneee, too high and exposed to allow of cultivation or permanent habitation, but producing abundant food for cattle in particular seasons of the year. The Jura and the Alps, which are best known to English travellers, contain very rich pastures for cows, and give a considerable return in butter and cheese. The snow which covers these mountains for a considerable part of the year, protects the herbage ; and the moisture which prevails in the summer by the continual passage of clouds, which appear in the form of heavy fogs to those who are enveloped in them, keeps up a luxuriant vegetation of the small Alpine plants. which form the richest pasture.
Whenever pastures are hired, the rent is always reckoned, not by the extent of surface, but by the stock which can be maintained upon it. Thus, in Switzerland, the mountain pastures are divided into portions of twenty, forty, or more cows. This mode of reckoning is much fairer than by mere extent of surface. In many places pasturing
has been found much more productive than cultivation ; and some large proprietors have converted great tracts of land from arable into pasture farms. But this can only be done where the population is very scanty, and where the soil and climate do not tempt men of capital to settle.
Considerable improvements have been made in natural pastures, not only by the raising of banks and stone walls as shelter against the winter's storms, but also by extensive draining and clearing the surface of wild plants and shrubs, which prevent the herbage from springing up, and greatly diminish the feed. On the sides of steep hills, where springs are apt to break out and produce bogs and swamps, drains judiciously made have carried off the water and laid dry the pastures below them ; while reservoirs have been constructed in many places to receive the water and to supply the stock in dry weather. On peaty moors the application of lime to the surface has often pro duced wonderful effects, and made various kinds of clover and grasses spring up which were never seen on the spot before.
Those who are possessed of extensive pastures often look upon them as of too little value to lay out any money in their improvement ; and unless when an attempt is made to bring them into regular cultivation, which often fails after a great outlay of money, they are not thought worth any attention. Yet many rough hilly pastures might be doubled and tripled in value merely by clearing the surface, burning coarse grasses, rushes, ferns, and furze ; and sowing a few seeds where the ashes have been spread. The additional number of cattle or sheep which can be maintained by this means, would surprise any one who had not had experience of such improvements. The forming of con venient channels for the water to run off is another important object, which can often be effected at a trifling expense ; and a loose surface laid dry by this means may be much improved, by merely burning the heath which grows upon it. After the fire has scorched the ground, grasses will spring up spontaneously; and, at a very small expense, a considerable tract of mountain pasture may be converted from the state of a brown heath or moor to that of a fine green sward. Wherever there are large pastures, proper and suitable buildings made of substantial materials should be erected. The cattle should have numerous sheds for refuge in bad weather, and sheep especially should have protection and shelter. Warmth is in some cases of as much importance as food; and an animal exposed to all the severities of a northern climate requires more food to keep him alive, than when he is kept warm and protected from the immediate influence of cutting winds.