e land. The wood to which I refer is covered with oak,
centuries old, and the foliage is so dense that but little underwood or
other vegetation can grow beneath it. If both the wood and the pasture
were put into arable cultivation, I have no doubt that the pasture would
prove much more fertile than the wood land.

In our experiments on permanent pasture, it has been observed that the
character of the herbage is mainly dependent on the food supplied.
Weeds, and inferior grasses, can hold their own as long as poverty
exists, but with a liberal supply of manure, the superior grasses
overgrow and drive out the bad grasses and weeds. In consequence of the
low price of wheat a good deal of land in England has been laid down to
permanent pasture, and much money has been spent in cleaning the land
preparatory to sowing the grass-seeds. I have on more occasions than
one, suggested that the money employed in this process would be better
expended in manure, by which the weeds would be "improved" off the face
of the land. While walking over the abandoned portion of these estates I
explained my views upon this point to the manager. They were, however,
received with the usual skepticism, and the rejoinder that "there was
only one way of getting rid of the weeds, which was by the plow and
fire."

There is nothing that speaks to me so forcibly as color in vegetation;
when travelling by rail, I do not require to be told that such a farm
is, or is not, in high condition, or that we are passing through a
fertile or infertile district. There is a peculiar green color in
vegetation which is an unmistakable sign that it is living upon the fat
of the land. I need hardly say that, in this case, the color of the
vegetation gave unmistakable signs of the poverty of the soil; but in
the midst of the dingy yellowish-green of the herbage, I came upon one
square of bright green grass. In answer to my enquiry I was told that,
a "lambing-fold had been there last year," and my informant added his
opinion, "that the manure would be so strong that it would kill
anything!" It had certainly killed the weeds, but in their place, some
good grasses had taken possession of the soil.

The plan I proposed to adopt was, to spend no more money on tillage
operations, but to endeavor to improve the pasture by giving to it the
food necessary to grow good grasses, sowing at the same time a small
quantity of the best seeds. I further suggested that a flock of sheep