. Pastures and pasture plants ... Pastures; Forage plants. 36 PASTURES AND PASTURE PLANTS CHAP To prevent such figures being misleading, it must always be remembered that the chemical analysis of any plant cannot be accepted as the true gauge of worth, because stock have their hkes and dislikes in the matter of foods. Pure Cultures Disadvantages.—Experiment has conclusively demonstrated that Red clover. Lucerne and Sainfoin, the three fodder plants usually sown pure in this country, do not endure so long cultivated alone as when mixed with suitable proportions of grasses and clovers ; and vari
. Pastures and pasture plants ... Pastures; Forage plants. 36 PASTURES AND PASTURE PLANTS CHAP To prevent such figures being misleading, it must always be remembered that the chemical analysis of any plant cannot be accepted as the true gauge of worth, because stock have their hkes and dislikes in the matter of foods. Pure Cultures Disadvantages.—Experiment has conclusively demonstrated that Red clover. Lucerne and Sainfoin, the three fodder plants usually sown pure in this country, do not endure so long cultivated alone as when mixed with suitable proportions of grasses and clovers ; and various grave objections are justly urged against their extended pure culture. Thus, Red clover, from its liability to " Clover-sickness," should be sown only at intervals of at least 6 years in duration, while there is always some risk from frost, especially in the case of foreign seeds ; Lucerne succeeds on comparatively few soils ; and Sainfoin, though invaluable in some situations, causes " Sainfoin-sickness" by its too frequent recurrence, gives only a small crop at the second cutting, and cannot be depended on in excessively wet seasons. Mixtures of Plants Advantages.—Not only do judicious mixtures of grasses and leguminous plants suppress weeds by more completely occupying the ground, but they utilise the different strata of soil more profitably and fully, as explained in a subsequent paragraph, than can any species cultivated alone, and are much less likely to cause partial chemical exhaustion of the land by using up any one element too rapidly. Emile Wolff found that i,ooo air-dried parts of the following plants contain :— Name of variety. Potash. Rye-grass . Red clover. Alsike Lucerne .... Sainfoin .... 7'20 7-40 4-40 2 40 4 60 3'40 1-50 I 60 480 3'GO 790 4-40 From which analysis it is obvious that while grasses draw more heavily on silica, leguminous plants require much the greater proportions of lime. Again, mixtures are
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