Grassland Management in Great Britain

Abstract

IN his presidential address delivered on July 14 to the Fourth International Grassland Congress held at Aberystwyth, Prof. R. G. Stapledon gave an interesting summary cf his views concerning the approach to grassland problems in general and also in relation to the special circumstances of grassland management in Great Britain. The most hopeful line of attack on the general problem, Prof. Stapledon believes, is by employment of the regional survey method, as developed by the Aberystwyth workers in their treatment of the grasslands of Wales. The procedure is to map, classify and plan on the basis of natural regions ; adapting to each the correct type of implements, fertilizers and especially the correct strains of seeds. The breeding of herbage plants should be carried out in the area for which they are intended, and interchange of genes between different countries is more likely to be fruitful than interchange of seeds. Of the many factors concerned in the making of useful grassland, the animal is by far the most important ; next comes the leguminous plant. Improvement in many instances consists in setting up such soil conditions that a suitable legume will grow, and then adopting a system of management to favour the legume as well as the grazing animal. Then follows the possibility of growing superior herbage plants that had never succeeded before in that area.