RAISING ITALIAN RYEGRASS.

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lambs, and mutton. Any system, therefore, which seeks to increase stock produce deserves the serious consideration of corn farmers, as the difference between the prosperity of the exclusive corn farmer and that of the farmer who adopts the mixed system of husbandry is gradually widening.

In raising Italian ryegrass, a great deal might be done to increase the produce of almost every farm. It is generally taken for granted that this crop can only be grown on fine rich land. Now, though it only comes to perfection on soils of good quality, it can, nevertheless, be raised on poor land if it is judiciously attended to. In late cold springs the farmer who has cultivated this crop is certain to be amply rewarded by having abundance of fresh herbage for his stock, of which a less prudent neighbour will be destitute, much to the detriment of his dairy cows and half-starved lambing ewes. It ought to be remembered that Italian ryegrass grows well on any kind of well-wrought manured land, and that the right time to sow it is in August or September.

The artificial grasses are mostly leguminous plants, but there are a few which are cultivated and used like the grasses, though they do not properly belong to that family. The clovers, lucerne, sainfoin, medic, and other similar plants, are included among the artificial grasses. With these observations, we commend Messrs. Lawson's Tables to the attention of our readers.

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SEEDS REQUIRED FOR SOWING AN ACRE.

Tables showing the Kinds and Quantities of Grass Seeds required for Sowing the Imperial Acre. (From Peter Lawson & Son's "Agrostographia.")

Note. In certain cases, the following addition to the above Table may be made-viz.: lb. to 1 lb. Achillea millefolium, in dry sheep pastures; 2 lb. Cichorium intybus, in cattle pastures; 6 lb. to 10 lb. Onobrychis sativa, and 4 lb. to 6 lb. Poterium Sanguisorba, on dry calcareous soils; 1 lb. to 2 lb. Petroselinum sativum, in lands where sheep are subject to the rot; 1 lb. to 2 lb. each Festuca rubra and Poa pratensis on dry sandy soils. When a crop of hay is taken the first year, both the rye-grasses may increased one-third, and 2 lb. Trifolium pratense added.

be

Note. The remarks concerning Table No. 1 are also applicable to Table No. 2, except that Cichorium intybus should in all cases be excluded, and Onobrychis sativa lessened by at least one-half, their foliage being coarse and unsightly. On warm dry banks, cowslip seed (Primula veris) may be scattered at the rate of from lb. to lb. per acre; and on such parts as are overshadowed by trees, a further quantity of Poa nemoralis, and its variety, sempervirens, should be added, at the rate of from 2 lb. to 4 lb. per acre; while on very dry banks the introduction of from 1 lb. to 2 lb. each of Trifolium filiforme, Agrostis vulgaris, Poa pratensis, and the deeper rooting varieties of Festuca duriuscula, or F. rubra, would prove a guarantee against the destruction of the pasture by severe droughts.

When the chief object to be attained is a coarse grassy game cover, under very thick trees, the quantities of Aira caespitosa, Arrhenatherum avenaceum, Brachypodium sylvaticum, Bromus giganteus, Festuca elatior, and Milium effusum should be increased onehalf, and a corresponding deduction made in the seeds of Agrostis vulgaris, Poa nemoralis, and its variety sempervirens, Poa trivialis, and Lotus major. Where, however, a fine grassy verdure is desired, the quantities of Aira caespitosa, Arrhenatherum avenaceum, Brachypodium sylvaticum, Bromus giganteus, and Festuca elatior, should be diminished, and the others proportionately increased. With reference

SEEDS REQUIRED FOR SOWING AN ACRE.

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to Milium effusum, where it is desirable to introduce it extensively, for feeding game with its seeds, the most successful and economical method is,-first, to rear the young plants in nursery or garden ground, and then transplant them to situations best suited for their growth.

FOR HEATHY AND MOORY LANDS, WHICH HAVE BEEN IMPROVED WITH A VIEW TO THEIR PRODUCING BETTER PASTURAGE.

This class of lands will rarely afford anything more than a very cheap mixture of seeds, such as the above. When, however, the soil is of a most peaty nature, the quantity of Phleum pratense should be increased, and from 1 lb. to 14 lb. of Grostis stolonifera and Poa trivialis added. And when it is of a dry nature and high altitude, an additional quantity of Festuca duriuscula and F. ovina, at the