LAYING DOWN LAND TO GRASS.

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ticular) to adopt any new systems ; and I have often, when speak-ing of this subject amongst men of enlightened understandings, beentold it would be next to madness, to sacrifice the benefit of a erop ofoats or.barley when the land is inline tilth, and whilst we can growgrass seeds underneath it.

" To this I reply, that there is no land whatever, when left for a fewmonths in a state of rest, but will produce naturally some kind ofherbage, good and bad; and thus we find the industry of man ex-cited, and the application of the hne and the weeder continually amongall our crops, this being essential to their welfare. I cannot help,therefore, observing how extremely absurd it is to endeavour to form''lean and g iod pasturage under a erop that gives as much protectionto every noxious need as to the young grass itself. Weeds are of twodescriptions and each requires a'verv different mode of extermination :thus, if annual, as the Charlock and Poppy, they will flower among thecorn, and the seeds will ripen and drop before harvest, and be readyto vegetate as soon as the corn is removed; and if perennial, as Thistles,Docks, Couch-grass, and a long tribe of others in this way, well knownto the farmer, they will be found to take such firm possession of theground that they will not be got rid of without great trouble and ex-pense.

" Although the crop of corn thus obtained is valuable, yet when agood and permanent meadow is wanted, and when all the strength ofthe land is required to nurture the young grass thus robbed and injured,the proprietor is often at considerable expense the second year for ma-nure, which, taking into consideration the trouble and disadvantage at-tending it, more than counterbalances the profit of the corn crop.

"To accomplish fully the formation of permanent meadows, threethings are necessary : namely, to clean the land, to procure good andPerfect seeds adapted to the nature of the soil, and to keep the cropclean by eradicating all the weeds, till the grasses have grown suffi-ciently to prevent the introduction of other plants. The first of thesematters is known to every good farmer,—the second may be obtained,—and the third may be accomplished by practising the modes in which Ihave succeeded at a small comparative expense and trouble, and whichis instanced in a meadow immediately fronting Brompton Crescent,the property of Angus Macdonald, Esq. which land was very greatlyencumbered with noxious weeds of all kinds: but, by the followingPlan, the grasses were encouraged to grow up to the exclusion of allother plants i and though it has been laid down more than ten years,the pasturage is now at least equal to any in the county.

" Crass seeds may be sown with equal advantage both in spring andautumn. The land above mentioned was sown in the latter end of Au-gust, an d the seed made use of was one bushel of Meadow^fescue, and°ne of Meadow fox-tail-grass, with a mixture of fifteen pounds of white

•Wished with this weed, it receives great encouragement under thismode of culture.