20
THE RE-AFFOEESTATION OF HAINHAULT.
costing 42s. 6d. per ton, was compared with 61/2 cwts. of 24.28 per
cent. slag, costing 33s. 6d. per ton. Scarcely any difference in
the effect could be observed, abundance of clover in each case
being produced, but, from a distance, the smaller quantity of
higher grade slag looked slightly the better. The 7 acres on
Dog-kennel Hill which was "slagged" in 1904 is, probably, the
best bit of grazing on the farm.
Mowing and grazing. The table on page 18 shows the crop-
ping of each field from 1902 till the whole, farm was under grass
in 1905. It will be observed that with the few exceptions
already mentioned the seeds were sown in a cereal crop,
generally spring-sown Oats, and there is no doubt that this has
proved the best method. The year after sowing each field has
been mown for hay and grazed the next year. The mowing in
the first year after sowing prevents the destruction of the seed-
lings by the trampling of cattle or by. the cattle tearing them out
by the roots in grazing before they are firmly established.
Moreover, if the cutting is done late, the seeds have time to fall
and thus fill up vacant places. But after a swarthe has been
produced the harder the grass is grazed, the finer will the turf
become. The stronger growing grasses are thus prevented from
smothering the weaker, and those grasses and clovers are
encouraged which are perennial, or propagate themselves by
runners, such as Fiorin, White Clover, Trefoil and Birdsfoot
Trefoil. It is to be recommended that as many store stock as
possible, sheep especially, be kept on the farm, stores because it
is undesirable to use cake for fattening the animals or to produce
milk, as the consequent enrichment of the manure would tend to
produce rank herbage. No better example can be found of the
value of hard grazing than in the exquisitely fine turf produced
in the forest where eaten close by rabbits.
III.—PLANTING,
So far we have dealt with the problem of the production of
forest turf; we have now to deal with the problem of planting.
For this purpose a number of patches on the recently grassed
fields on Hog Hill, Dog-kennel Hill and Cabin Hill were
ploughed up, and, on these, trees were planted and seeds sown and
the patches fenced with wire against cattle. None of the areas
which were selected had been fallowed to clean the land of