543
§ Si Of rye-grass and clover for soiling .—This most pro-fitable practice has not hitherto become universal in Scotchhusbandry, even in the best managed districts, but is gra-dually extending, and needs only to be fully known, to be a-doptcd wherever circumstances allow it to be carried on.■It is only about sixty or seventy years ago since the seeds ofrye-grass and clover were brought from England, and sownin this country, at first in a few places, and in small quanti-ties. When the soil was good, and the preparation had beenjudicious, very large crops of grass were produced, much ear-lier in the season, turd more palatable, than from any natu-ral meadow. The quick reproduction of the clover also, af-ter it bad been cut, yielded after-crops far superior to wlmthad been hitherto experienced. These advantages were tooobvious to be overlooked ; the practice of cultivating artifi-cial grass gradually extended, and, by means of it, farmersbeing enabled, to fill the stomachs of their working-horsesquickly at the stall, could make them do more work, andperform longer journeys without injury. It is thus that oneimprovement facilitates others. Working horses, instead ofslowly gathering their food in the fields, and shunning theyoke when they were wanted, by being now fed in the stall*are always at command, and able to perform the importantlabours for which they are destined. They do not requiremore exercise in the open air, than they get in eight or tenhours of daily labour, and the remainder of their time is bet-ter devoted to rest aud feeding. Nor has the culture of ar-tificial grasses been less beneficial in the dairy. The quanti-ty and quality of the milk, is in some proportion to the easeand quiet the cows enjoy, and the abundance of palatablefood given them. Few animals are more impatient of thescorching heat of the sun, and the torment of galling insects }than the cow kind. However plentiful the pasture, when thesun scorches, and the gad-fly stings, cows forget that easeand plenty in which they delight, and dissipate their milkin madly ranging over the fields. By sheltering them under