Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 1.djvu/399

Rh GRASSES.] AGRICULTURE 373 they are ready to receive a fresh stock. If it is con templated to get them also fattened before the expiry of the season, they are not put on the best land instantly on the first lot being sold ; but a crowd of sheep or store- beasts being turned upon it for a few days, the existing herbage is cleared off, and the pasture (Anglice) &quot; laid in &quot; or (Scottice) &quot; hained,&quot; until a fresh clean growth fits it for receiving a suitable number of the best cattle from the other pastures. It is inexpedient to graze sheep promis cuously with cattle on these best lands, as they pick out the sweetest of the herbage, and so retard the fattening of the oxen. Neither do we approve of having horses among such cattle ; not so much from their interfering with their pasturage as from the disturbance which they usually cause by galloping about. This does not apply to the draught- horses of a farm, which are usually too tired and hungry when turned out from the yoke to mind anything but food and rest, but it is better thrift to soil them; and frolic some, mischievous colts are unsuitable companions for sedate, portly oxen. In favourable seasons, the grass often grows more rapidly than an ordinary stocking of cattle can consume it, in which case they select the best places, and allow the herbage on some parts to get rank and coarse. If these rank places are neglected until the herbage gets dry and withered, the finer plants die out, the coarser-growing grasses usurp the ground, and the pasturage is injured for future years. To check this evil in time, these neglected places should be mown, and the grass either brought to the homestead for soiling, or left to dry where it grew ; in which state the cattle will eat up most of it, and be the better for it, especially if their bowels are unduly relaxed by the succulence of the growing herbage. The remarks now made apply equally to all old pastures employed for the fattening of cattle, although not of the first quality. All that is required is, to observe a due proportion between the capabilities of the pasturage and the breed and size of the cattle. A pasture that will fatten a fifty-stone ox may be quite inadequate for one of seventy, and the hardy Galloway or West Highlander will thrive apace where the heavier and daintier shorthorn could barely subsist. With the exception of the best class of rich old pastures, grass is usually consumed to greater profit by a mixed stock of sheep and store cattle than by one kind of animals only. This holds true both as regards the natural herbage of pastxires or water meadows, and cultivated grasses, clovers, or sainfoin. When old pastures and mixed &quot; seeds &quot; are grazed chiefly by sheep, the same rules apply that have already been noticed in connection with cattle. The herbage should if possible be fully established in a growing state, and so far advanced as to afford a full bite, before the pasture is stocked in spring. If the sheep are turned into it prematurely, their close nibbling hinders the plants from ever getting into a state of rapid growth and productiveness, and the necessity imposed upon the stock of roaming over the whole field, and keeping long afoot before they can glean enough to appease their appetite, is prejudicial alike to them and to their pasture. The prudent grazier endeavours to avoid these evils by having stores of swedes or mangolds to last until the full time at which he may reckon on having good pasturage. In distributing the flocks to different fields, the best pasturage is allotted to those that are in most forward condition. It is advan tageous to have the pastures so subdivided that one portion may be double stocked while another is rested. By fre quently removing the stock from the one portion to the other the herbage of each by turns gets time to grow and freshen, and is more relished by the sheep, and more whole some than when the whole is tainted by their uninterrupted occupation of it. In the case of clover, trefoil, sainfoin, and water-meadows, this principle is yet more fully carried out by folding the flock and giving thorn a fresh piece daily. The crop is thus eaten close off at once in daily portions, and the plants being immediately thereafter left undisturbed, and receiving over the whole area their due share of the excrements of the flock, grow again more rapidly than when subjected to constant browsing under a system of promiscuous grazing. This plan of folding sheep upon such crops has the same advantages to recommend it as soiling, only that it is cheaper to shift the fold daily than to mow and cart home the forage and carry back the manure. In the case of water-meadows it is the practice to irrigate them afresh as each crop of grass is fed off. This is attended with considerable risk of the sheep getting tainted with rot, which must be guarded against as much as possible. In the first place, it is well to give them a daily allowance of bran, beans, or cake, and salt ; and besides this, to put on this land only such sheep as are nearly ready for the butcher. They will thus fatten very rapidly, and be slaughtered before there is time for harm to ensue. The modes of grazing which we have now described are appropriate for sheep in forward condition. The poorer pastures are usually stocked with nursing ewes and lean sheep bought in from higher grazings. Lambs, both before and after weaning, require clean pastures, and of course frequent changes. If kept on tainted pastures, they are certain to become subject to diarrhoea, to be stinted in their growth, and to have their constitution so weakened that many of them will die when afterwards put upon turnips. To avoid these evils, they must be frequently moved from field to field. A sufficient number of store cattle must be grazed along with them, to eat up the tall herbage and rank patches avoided by the sheep. After the lambs are weaned, the ewes require to fare rather poorly for a time, and can thus be made use of to eat up the worst pasturage, and the leavings of the young and fattening sheep. When the latter, with the approach of autumn, are put upon aftermath, clover stubbles, rape, cabbages, or turnips, their previous pastures should in succession be thickly stocked by the ewes and other store stock, so as to be eaten bare and then left to freshen and get ready for the ewes by rutting-time, when they require better food. In depasturing sheep on poor soils it is usually highly advantageous to give them a daily allowance of grain or cake in troughs, which must be shifted daily, so as to distribute the manure regularly over the land. By means of this auxiliary food sheep can be fattened on land the herbage of which would not alone suffice for the purpose. It admits also of a larger number of sheep being kept per acre, and of the pasturage being fed off more closely than could otherwise be done. The produce of poor siliceous soils, both in grass and after crops, is much increased by the additional manuring and treading which the con sumption of such extraneous food upon them occasions. It is always advantageous to have pastures provided with a shed, under which the stock can find shelter from sudden storms, or from the attacks of insects and the scorching rays of the summer s sun. When such sheds are regularly strewed with dried peat or burnt clay, much valuable compost for top-dressing the pasture can be obtained. The dung of the cattle, thus secured and applied, benefits the pastures more than that which is dropped upon it by the animals. Such clots require to be spread about from time to time. The temperate climate of Britain is so peculiarly favour able to the growth of the grasses and other pasture plants, and to the keeping of live stock with safety in the open fields for a large part of the year, that the practice of con suming these crops by depasturing, as already described, has hitherto been decidedly preferred to soiling. One con-