24 NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL GRASSES. rate of 2 lbs. each per acre, will be found of material advantage, especially for sheep pastures. In addition to which it is always the practice, in some districts, to introduce a few lbs. of Falniago lanceolata. Lands laid down with the natural grasses are designed as more permanent mowings than those sown with the artificial ones alone. They are sown with a number of species of the true grasses, most of which are perennial, and are to be used as mowing lands or for pasturage. The artificial grasses are more frequently intended to occupy the ground for one or two years only in the rotation with other crops, and are generally composed of only one or two species of plants, and those annuals, or at most biennials. In this country it is common to sow one or more species of clover with the natural grasses. The clover then occupies the ground almost exclusively during the first and sometimes the second year; but afterwards the perennial grasses take its place and form a permanent turf. The natural grasses form a close turf or sward, and when left uncut, to be fed off by animals, this turf makes what is called a pasture or pasturage. There are certain situations which must be improved as pasturage, if at all. Such are steep slopes, on which cultivation is difficult. or expensive, and where the soil would be washed into the valleys below, if broken up by the spade or plough; also lands which lie along the margins of streams or rivers liable to periodical overflows, MEADOW FEEDING. 25 by which growing crops might be endangered or the soil be washed away; and low marshy lands which cannot be drained so as to produce annual crops. In these latter situations, however, the wild grasses frequently come in so luxuriantly, on account of the richness of the soil, as to give good crops for hay for many years in succession without any cultivation whatever. There are great differences between the different species of grasses. Some are shortlived, others more durable; some mature early, others later; some contain much nutriment, others little. The different species require different kinds' of soil also, and withdraw from it different substances and elements, yet they live on to creep everywhere. "Here I come creeping, creeping everywhere; Nor hear my low sweet humming; And the glad morning light, I come quietly creeping everywhere. "Here I come creeping, creeping everywhere; More welcome than the flowers, In summer's pleasant hours; The gentle cow is glad, And the merry bird not sad To see me creeping, creeping everywhere." It may here be mentioned that many experienced graziers and farmers insist that feeding a meadow one year after it has been mown is as good as a dressing of manure, and that it will yield an 26 BONES AS A MANURE FOR GRASS. abundant crop next year. This is a mistake. Although the land is not so much injured by depasturing as by constantly mowing it, still it wants manuring; for, to every head of cattle that may graze on it, the ground parts with so much of its phosphate, which tends to form, in the food consumed by that animal, its bones, sinews, etc., and the richer the feed in phosphate and nitrogen, the stronger and better will be the animal. Then, if we look at the constituents of the excrements of the animals so fed, we shall find that they return to the soil a very small proportion of what they take from it. While 1000 lbs. of such excrements contain only 4 lbs. of nitrogen, 3 lbs. of phosphoric acid, and 4 lbs. of lime, we find that the same proportion of bones of such animals contain 50 lbs. of nitrogen, 240 of phosphoric acid, and 330 of lime, which have been abstracted from the soil at one time and another. This shows the absolute necessity of restoring such elements again to the soil, if we wish to fertilize the land and raise fine and healthy stock. By the free use of finelycrushed bone manure, a Cheshire dairy-farmer has been able to increase his head of stock from twenty to forty. There are few manures so valuable as bones for the growth of grass; they produce effects which be seen for many years. may Bones contain more than fifty-three per cent. of phosphate of lime, a little phosphate of magnesia, some carbonate of GUANO PURELY STIMULATING. 27 soda, and more than seven per cent. of nitrogen. Their principal value is owing to the quantity of the phosphates they contain, as these salts are largely removed from a soil by feeding cattle and by successive crops. These salts remain after the bones have been deprived of their fatty substance by the soap-boiler, though most of the nitrogen is lost. Bones should be ground before being used, and may be applied at the rate of ten or twelve hundredweight to the acre. The action of bones may be accelerated by converting their phosphates into perphosphates or superphosphates, which is done by mixing the ground bones with half their weight of sulphuric acid diluted with three or four times its bulk of water. This is to be thoroughly mixed and left a day or two at rest. One barrel of the pasty mass may then be mixed with one hundred barrels of water and sprinkled upon the field from a water-cart or by scoops. Or the perphosphate may be mixed with a large quantity of earth or sawdust, soot or powdered charcoal, and thus applied to the land. Next to dung and bones for meadow land is guano. What brandy is to the constitution, guano is to the soil. Guano is purely stimulating, and should be used for meadows in small quantities, and not too frequently, but as the necessity arises, to make up any deficiency from a wet and cold or backward season, or when the land has been late, or too closely fed. It should always be used mixed 28 GYPSUM A SPECIFIC FOR GRASSES. with bone-dust, gypsum, salt, soot, or earth; and perhaps there is nothing better than simple mould as an admixture, for it acts as an absorbent by taking up the ammonia which otherwise evaporates in the sowing, and also prevents its injurious effects upon the grass; for pure guano is very rich in ammoniacal salts, and easily corrodes the roots of the plants, especially the young and tender ones. Therefore it should never be sown in dry weather; but, by mixing it with earth, this is avoided, and injury to the plants is no longer to be feared. It is the opinion of many eminent agriculturists that guano should never be used for meadow lands where the soil is light and dry, as it is believed to be more injurious than beneficial. But for cold wet soils it is specially adapted, the moisture of the ground tending to destroy its corrosive influence, and likewise absorbing the ammonia; although here it should not be used too often, and whenever used it should always be followed by dung or other manures. That is, supposing guano to be used this season, then next season it should be followed by dung or bone-dust, etc., as the forcing properties of the guano tend greatly to weaken the roots of the plants by the rapid development of the leaves and stems. Again, gypsum is another manure which is largely used in some countries for meadow land with beneficial results. It seems quite a specific for grasses and clover. It invigorates their growth in a sur |