y be inclined to think that it would be superfluous to have
more in cultivation than one or two sorts. To this I would beg leave to
reply, that they do not all grow exactly in the same situations wild;
and if they were cultivated, some one of them might be found to suit in
certain lands better than others; and perhaps we never shall see our
agriculture at the height of improvement, till by some public-spirited
measure all those things shall be grown for the purposes of fair
comparative experiment--an institution much wanted in this country.

* * * * *

HINTS AS TO THE LAYING DOWN LAND TO PERMANENT PASTURE.

Having endeavoured to explain as nearly as possible the nature and uses
of the plants which are likely to improve our meadows and pastures; I
shall proceed to describe the best approved mode of sowing the land, on
which depends, in a great measure, the future success of the
husbandman's labour.

Under the head Lolium perenne I observed the practice of sowing clovers
and that grass with a crop of barley or oats, which is intended as an
intermediate crop for a season or two, and then the land to be again
broken up and used for arable crops. And this is a common and useful
practice; for although neither the Clover or Rye-grass will last long,
yet both will be found to produce a good crop whilst the land will bear
it, or until it is overpowered by the natural weeds of the ground
[Footnote: It is not an uncommon opinion amongst farmers, that Rye-grass
produces Couch; and this is not extraordinary; for, if the land is at
all furnished with this weed, it receives great encouragement under this
mode of culture.], which renders it necessary to the farmer to break it
up.

I am aware of the difficulty of persuading persons (farmers in
particular) to adopt any new systems; and I have often, when speaking of
this subject amongst men of enlightened understandings, been told it
would be next to madness, to sacrifice the benefit of a crop of oats or
barley when the land is in fine tilth, and whilst we can grow grass
seeds underneath it.

"To this I reply, that there is no land whatever, when left for a few
months in a state of rest, but will produce naturally some kind of
herbage, good and bad; and thus we find the industry of man excited, and
the application of the hoe and the weeder continually among all our
crops, this being essential to their welfare. I cannot help, therefore,
observing how