The following Report relating to Renfrewshire was drawn up at the desire of the Board of Agriculture
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CHAPTER VIII.GRASS.SECTION I.—NATURAL MEADOWS AND PASTURES. THE higher district of the county naturally runs into good pasture; and, excepting in those bleak and exposed situations where heath abounds, the surface is covered with grass and white clover. The middle region produces only a scanty pasture; but, as this part of the county is chiefly situated in the neighbourhood of Glasgow and Paisley, the farmer generally avails himself of the advantages of manure, and sows a mixture of rye-grass and clover on the lands which he has thus put into good condition. The same method is pursued on the flat grounds. But it is the first, or more elevated district which is chiefly adapted for pasture, and, in many places, the value of its peculiar soil is well estimated, and a culture suited to it carefully pursued. In the parishes of Mearns and Eaglesham particularly, and in some parts of Neilston and Lochwinnoch, the lands of this species exhibit very often uncommon appearances of fertility. There, the farmer wisely considers the raising of grain as a secondary object, and attends chiefly to the improvement of his pastures. When he is happily favoured with lands of the above description, a moderate attention ensures to him a very luxuriant growth of the best natural grasses; which, in the same field, follow in regular succession from an early to a late period of the season. What is deemed necessary in such situations is to encourage the natural tendency of the soil, by breaking up the pastures very rarely, cropping gently, keeping them in tillage only two years, and slightly top dressing with lime, after they are returned into grass. It would perhaps be well, both for the country and for the farmer, were these simple methods more generally followed in this district. But it too often happens that the tenant, on such grounds, pursues a culture more laborious, and in the end less lucrative. When, as is often the case, his farm consists of a portion of wet and moorish ground, along with some of the dry soil above mentioned, he is tempted to trust to the former for pasture to his live-stock; and, with a view to a few good crops, which he deems necessary for fodder to his cattle or meal to his family, to labour the latter too severely with the plough. By this means, such land is not allowed to remain so long in pasture as to bring a close and rich herbage over the surface. It is often broken up at the time when it begins to be able to support such a number of cattle as would enrich it with their dung; and thrown into tillage before it acquires any tolerable degree of fertility. In this state it remains, until what it has acquired be exhausted. It is then left to itself, to be over-run with weeds and coarse herbage, till, as happens in about four years, the good grass begins to prevail, when it is again unmercifully torn up by the plough. In this upper district there are a number of natural meadows, affording a coarse kind of hay for winter fodder; they are occasionally watered in a very imperfect manner, and very seldom manured. Their produce is scanty, and the hay always of inferior value. SECTION II.—ARTIFICIAL GRASSES. It has been already observed, that, in the most elevated district, the far greatest part of the lands is chiefly in pasture. In the middle division there-may be about three fourths; and in the flat district smaller quantities of the ground are appropriated to that purpose. When grounds are laying down in pasture, the quantity of clover generally sown throughout this county is singularly small. Many of the best farmers sow only from 4 to 6 lbs. per acre, along with 1½ bushels of rye-grass, and are confidently of opinion that more is unnecessary. It would be of importance to make some comparative experiments to ascertain the effect of this and a larger quantity. It must be allowed, in the mean time, that, with this small quantity, when the first crop of hay is cut, the after growth is often extremely rich. A gentleman in the east of the county, sowed 14 lbs. red clover to the acre, on well cleaned land, rather tending to clay, and had a most luxuriant crop; but the aftermath was so strong, that it injured the roots of the rye-grass, though ascertained to be of the perennial kind. Unfortunately, a species of annual rye-grass was, some years ago, (in 1791 or 1792) introduced into the county, but the farmers were at great pains to extirpate it, by saving seed from hay of the second year's growth. The perennial seed being justly considered an object of the first importance, where well cleaned land is to be laid down to pasture, the venders of annual seed have, in some instances, been prosecuted for damages; and that useless grass now rarely occurs. SECTION III.—HAY HARVEST. The hay harvest is generally in July on the low arable lands where artificial grasses, namely clovers and rye-grass, are sown, for these are now the only grass seeds cultivated: the produce, when the ground is in good condition, is from 200 to 250 stones per acre, that is from 2 to 2½ tons; the stone being 22½ lbs. The practice of making hay is in this part of Scotland well understood; no more work is bestowed on it than merely to dry it, preserving at the same time the natural juices and flavour. The custom of repeatedly spreading out hay to the weather in the day time, and gathering it up at night, till it is well made, is deservedly exploded. "The apothecary who means to preserve the good qualities of his medical herbs, dries them in the shade, and would esteem them lost if exposed to the sun but for a day. Is it then possible to expose hay to a hot sun for two or three days without evaporating some of its good qualities?"[61] The hay, in some parts of Scotland, is cut so late as to have much of its seed ripened and shaken by the operations of making. This is seldom the case in Renfrewshire. The hay is put into tramp ricks, of from 100 to 300 stones, before carrying it to the stack-yard: and, either in the rick or stack, the farmer, in some instances, gives it that sweating, or heat, which makes all cattle so fond of it, and which renders it so salutary to live-stock. "Another method of winning hay is bundling it up in sheaves, and stooking it, as we do corn; this method is only used when the design is for seed;" and there is no doubt that the stooking will preserve it a long time from the injuries of the weather. It is often a great convenience to a farmer to carry home hay thus prepared, stack it, and thresh it out at his leisure. Meadow-hay, or, as it is termed in Renfrewshire, bog-hay, is collected in the high and poor districts from bogs or marshy grounds, on which no attempts at cultivation have ever been made. It is commonly cut about the end of July, and is often difficult to manage. The quantities of soft grass, sprits, rushes and aquatic plants, which abound in our meadows, rendering the process for saving this kind of hay, in many instances, extremely troublesome and precarious.
Nothing particular occurs on the subject of grazing worthy of observation. Judicious farmers consider it prudent to stock their lands moderately, which in this, as in every district equally extensive, are of various quality. Pastures are found in many parts of the county, which will graze an ox on an acre; while upon that, or even a greater, quantity of ground in other places, the most hardy domestic animal could not subsist. Download 0.95 Mb. Share with your friends:
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