GRASMERE, a village and lake of Westmorland, in the heart of the English Lake District. The village (pop. of urban district in 1901, 781) lies near the head of the lake, on the small river Rothay and the Keswick-Ambleside road, 12½ m. from Keswick and 4 from Ambleside. The scenery is very beautiful; the valley about the lakes of Grasmere and Rydal Water is in great part wooded, while on its eastern flank there rises boldly the range of hills which includes Rydal Fell, Fairfield and Seat Sandal, and, farther north, Helvellyn. On the west side are Loughrigg Fell and Silver How. The village has become a favourite centre for tourists, but preserves its picturesque and sequestered appearance. In a house still standing William Wordsworth lived from 1799 to 1808, and it was subsequently occupied by Thomas de Quincey and by Hartley Coleridge. Wordsworth’s tomb, and also that of Coleridge, are in the churchyard of the ancient church of St Oswald, which contains a memorial to Wordsworth with an inscription by John Keble. A festival called the Rushbearing takes place on the Saturday within the octave of St Oswald’s day (August 5th), when a holiday is observed and the church decorated with rushes, heather and flowers. The festival is of early origin, and has been derived by some from the Roman Floralia, but appears also to have been made the occasion for carpeting the floors of churches, unpaved in early times, with rushes. Moreover, in a procession which forms part of the festivities at Grasmere, certain Biblical stories are symbolized, and in this a connexion with the ancient miracle plays may be found (see H. D. Rawnsley, A Rambler’s Note-Book at the English Lakes, Glasgow, 1902). Grasmere is also noted for an athletic meeting in August.
The lake of Grasmere is just under 1 m. in length, and has an extreme breadth of 766 yds. A ridge divides the basin from north to south, and rises so high as to form an island about the middle. The greatest depth of the lake (75 ft.) lies to the east of this ridge.
GRASS AND GRASSLAND, in agriculture. The natural vegetable covering of the soil in most countries is “grass” (for derivation see [Grasses]) of various kinds. Even where dense forest or other growth exists, if a little daylight penetrates to the ground grass of some sort or another will grow. On ordinary farms, or wherever farming of any kind is carried out, the proportion of the land not actually cultivated will either be in grass or will revert naturally to grass in time if left alone, after having been cultivated.
Pasture land has always been an important part of the farm, but since the “era of cheap corn” set in its importance has been increased, and much more attention has been given to the study of the different species of grass, their characteristics, the improvement of a pasture generally, and the “laying down” of arable land into grass where tillage farming has not paid. Most farmers desire a proportion of grass-land on their farms—from a third to a half of the area—and even on wholly arable farms there are usually certain courses in the rotation of crops devoted to grass (or clover). Thus the Norfolk 4-course rotation is corn, roots, corn, clover; the Berwick 5-course is corn, roots, corn, grass, grass; the Ulster 8-course, corn, flax, roots, corn, flax, grass, grass, grass; and so on, to the point where the grass remains down for 5 years, or is left indefinitely.
Permanent grass may be grazed by live-stock and classed as pasture pure and simple, or it may be cut for hay. In the latter case it is usually classed as “meadow” land, and often forms an alluvial tract alongside a stream, but as grass is often grazed and hayed in alternate years, the distinction is not a hard and fast one.
There are two classes of pasturage, temporary and permanent. The latter again consists of two kinds, the permanent grass natural to land that has never been cultivated, and the pasture that has been laid down artificially on land previously arable and allowed to remain and improve itself in the course of time. The existence of ridge and furrow on many old pastures in Great Britain shows that they were cultivated at one time, though perhaps more than a century ago. Often a newly laid down pasture will decline markedly in thickness and quality about the fifth and sixth year, and then begin to thicken and improve year by year afterwards. This is usually attributed to the fact that the unsuitable varieties die out, and the “naturally” suitable varieties only come in gradually. This trouble can be largely prevented, however, by a judicious selection of seed, and by subsequently manuring with phosphatic manures, with farmyard or other bulky “topdressings,” or by feeding sheep with cake and corn over the field.
All the grasses proper belong to the natural order Gramineae (see [Grasses]), to which order also belong all the “corn” plants cultivated throughout the world, also many others, such as bamboo, sugar-cane, millet, rice, &c. &c., which yield food for mankind. Of the grasses which constitute pastures and hay-fields over a hundred species are classified by botanists in Great Britain, with many varieties in addition, but the majority of these, though often forming a part of natural pastures, are worthless or inferior for farming purposes. The grasses of good quality which should form a “sole” in an old pasture and provide the bulk of the forage on a newly laid down piece of grass are only about a dozen in number (see below), and of these there are only some six species of the very first importance and indispensable in a “prescription” of grass seeds intended for laying away land in temporary or permanent pasture. Dr W. Fream caused a botanical examination to be made of several of the most celebrated pastures of England, and, contrary to expectation, found that their chief constituents were ordinary perennial ryegrass and white clover. Many other grasses and legumes were present, but these two formed an overwhelming proportion of the plants.
In ordinary usage the term grass, pasturage, hay, &c., includes many varieties of clover and other members of the natural order Leguminosae as well as other “herbs of the field,” which, though not strictly “grasses,” are always found in a grass field, and are included in mixtures of seeds for pasture and meadows. The following is a list of the most desirable or valuable agricultural grasses and clovers, which are either actually sown or, in the case of old pastures, encouraged to grow by draining, liming, manuring, and so on:—