Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 1.djvu/401

Rh GRASSES.] AGRICULTURE 375 the cost of converting it into hay being proved to be such as to render the process unprofitable. &quot; The price paid for the plots varies considerably, the best being known to bring 40 per acre, while others are as low as 15 or 20. Last season, owing to the cattle plague, the former high prices could not be obtained. The best land produces the heaviest crop ; but on the Figgate Whins, mere irrigated sand, the first crop is earlier in the season a matter of such consequence that, although the annual yield is less, the rent paid for these plots is about as high as for the plots producing the heavier crop. The rental of the Figgate Whins previous to the irrigation was, I have been informed, about 20s. per acre ; while, when irrigated, parts have been let for some years at 40 per acre. The only works having been the levelling of the sandy hillocks and formation of channels for the sewage neither of them very costly operations and the annual outlay being small, the increased annual value of that land may be stated at not much less than the difference between the two sums. &quot;It might be an interesting speculation to consider how far the cost of the works necessary for collecting and removing the sewage from the district of the city draining towards Craigentinny_might hare boon defrayed by the advance of rent obtained by the disposal of the sewage in irrigating the land along the course of the stream. The cost of the whole sewerage works (including many of the branch drains) constructed within the district in the city which is drained to the Craigentinny Burn, may be stated at 96,000. Assuming that the annual rent of the 250 acres irrigated was 5 per acre on an average previous to being laid out for irrigation, while the rent was raised to 25, then the difference, 20 per acre, is the annual value of the irrigation. There being 250 acres, gives 5000 as the return, or upwards of 5 per cent, on the cost of the sewers. &quot; The produce of the various irrigated meadows round Edinburgh is sufficient to supply the present demand for grass ; necessitating any further application of the sewage to some other kind of crop, unless a more extensive market is obtained for the grass produced.&quot; Section 3. Italian Ryegrass. Italian ryegrass can be cultivated over as wide a range of soils and climate as any forage crop which we possess, and its value for soiling is every day getting to be more generally appreciated. When first introduced, and indeed until very recently, it was chiefly sown in mixture with other grasses and clovers for pasturage, a purpose to which it is well adapted from its early and rapid growth in spring. Its true function, however, is to produce green food for soiling, for which purpose it is probably unrivalled. It is in connection with the system of irrigation with liquid manure that its astonishing powers have been most fully developed. When grown for this purpose it is sown in April, on land that has borne a grain crop after turnips or summer fallow. If sown with a grain crop as thickly as is requisite, it grows to nearly the height of the grain, and both are injured. A liberal dressing of farm-yard dung is spread upon the stubble in autumn, and immediately ploughed in. In the end of March or beginning of April the land is prepared for the seed by being stirred with the grubber and then well harrowed. The seed, at the rate of 4 bushels per acre, is then sown in the way already described for clover and grass seeds. When the liquid manure system is practised, the crop is watered as soon as the young plants are about an inch high, and so rapid is its growth in favourable circumstances that a cutting of 10 tons per acre has in some cases been obtained six weeks after sowing. When there is no provision for supplying liquid manure, a top-dressing of guano, nitrate of soda, soot, or the first two articles mixed, is applied by hand-sowing, care being taken to give this dressing when rain seems at hand or has just fallen. A similar top-dressing is repeated after each cutting, by which means three cuttings are ordinarily obtained from the same space in one season. A very great quantity of stock can thus be supported from a very limited extent of ground. This grass is also found to be very grateful to the palates of horses, cattle, and sheep, which all thrive upon it. Though so very succulent, it does not produce purging in the animals fed upon it. It is peculiarly suitable feeding for milch cows, as appears from the published account at Canning Park. Such results as those obtained by Mr Kennedy and others are not to be expected unless under similar conditions ; but on good loams, clean and in good heart, and under such treatment as is described at the beginning of this section, as large crops of this grass as of red clover may be reckoned on, with at least equal feeding powers, and with a degree of certainty which the farmer cannot now entertain in regard to the latter crop. If it is regularly mown when the ear begins to show, and care taken never to allow the seed to form, it is fully ascertained that this grass will grow abundantly for a second year, with the advantage of being ready for use very much earlier than in its first season. It is sometimes sown in autumn, but those who have had the fullest experience in its cultivation give a decided preference to spring sowing, either after a grain crop which has followed a green crop or fallow, or at once after turnips. It is of great import ance to get fresh and genuine seed. That directly imported from Italy yields the best crop when otherwise good. As a proof of the fondness of sheep for this grass, it has been observed that when it had been sown in mixture with red clover and cut for hay, sheep, on being turned into the aftermath, eat down the Italian ryegrass in preference to the clover. Section 4. Crimson Clover. Crimson clover, though not hardy enough to withstand the climate of Scotland in ordinary winters, is a most valuable forage crop in England. It is sown as quickly as possible after the removal of a grain crop at the rate of 18 fi&amp;gt; to 20 ft) per acre. It is found to succeed better when only the surface of the soil is stirred by the scarifier and harrow than when a ploughing is given. It grows rapidly in spring, and yields an abundant crop of green food, peculiarly palatable to live stock. It is also suitable for making into hay. Only one cutting, however, can be obtained, as it does not shoot again after being mown. Section 5. Red Clover. This plant, either sown alone or in mixture with ryegrass, has for a longtime formed the staple crop for soiling; and so long as it grew freely, its power of shooting up again after repeated mowings, the bulk of crop thus obtained, its palatableness to stock and feeding qualities, the great range of soils and climate in which it grows, and its fitness either for pasturage or soiling, well entitled it to this pre ference. Except on certain rich calcareous clay soils, it has now, however, become an exceedingly precarious crop. The seed, when genuine, which unfortunately is very often not the case, germinates as freely as ever, and no greater difficulty than heretofore is experienced in having a full plant during autumn and the greater part of winter ; but over most part of the country, the farmer, after having his hopes raised by seeing a thick cover of vigorous-looking clover plants over his field, finds to his dismay, by March or April, that they have either entirely disappeared, or are found only in capricious patches here and there over the field. No satisfactory explanation of this clover failure has yet been given, nor any certain remedy, of a kind to be applied to the soil, discovered. One important fact is, however, now well established, viz., that when the crop ping of the land is so managed that clover does not recur at shorter intervals than eight years, it grows with, much of its pristine vigour. The knowledge of this fact now determines many farmers in varying their rotation so as to secure this important end. At one time there was a somewhat prevalent belief that the introduction of beans into the rotation had a specific influence of a beneficial kind on the clover when it came next to be sown ; but the true explanation seems to be, that the beans operate favour ably only by the incidental circumstance of almost neces-