306 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



NOTES ON MEADOWS AND PASTURES. 

 By JAMES BUCKMAN, F.G.S., F.L.S., 

 Professor of Botany and Geology at the Royal Agricultural College. 



The subject for our present consideration is that of the 

 weeds of pasture, a matter which has never received half 

 the attention which it deserves ; for, while everybody 

 will admit that a field of wheat or of turnips choked 

 with weeds is not only an evidence of bad farming, be- 

 cause weeds and wheat and charlock and turnips cannot 

 occupy the same spot at the same time, but also because 

 an enemy lives upon the food that had been prepared for 

 a friend ; yet few persons so reason about pasture. 



Now, in the meadow the object is to grow fodder ; and 

 as there are a number of plants which, either separately 

 or unitedly, act in this capacity, so the farmer too often 

 errs in considering that there cannot be such things as 

 weeds in pasture, or, rather, that pasture consists wholly 

 of weeds ; but when we examine the botanical characters 

 of the different plants which enter here and there into 

 the composition of meadow herbage, we shall be bound 

 to conclude that much of it can only be considered in 

 the light of weeds ; and inasmuch as inlaying down per- 

 manent pasture we should exercise care and thought as 

 to the peculiar kinds of fodder plants which we should 

 employ to meet the circumstances of our soil and posi- 

 tion, so, having chosen these as the best kinds we could 

 select, we should be careful only to sow what we require 

 without paying for a mixture therewith of the seeds of 

 weeds ; and when they were sown we should be equally 

 solicitous to discourage the growth of weeds which may 

 spring up spontaneously with our required crop. 



How the first of these conditions, namely, the choice 

 of grass seeds for permanent pasture, are often met, may 

 be gathered from the following analysis which ws were 

 called upon to make of two parcels of seeds — one of 

 mixed grasses, and another of clover, both of which were 

 destined to be sown for laying down in a meadow : — 



1. — Grasses. 



5 f Triticum repens. — Couch, a well-known perennial weed. 

 I j Dromus 7)wllis.— Soft brome or " Z/OjO," an annual weed 



So -i Rfa^s- 



^ I Holms lanalus.—Soit grass, " Fog," a grass devoid of 

 ^ > feeding quslities, but with capabilities for smothering 



^ ^ everything better. 



Festtica duriuscitla, — Hard fescue. 

 Daclylis ylomerata. — Cocksfoot. 

 Alopecurus pratensis.— Foxtail. 

 Lolium perenne. — Ryegrass. 



Good meadow 

 species. 



2. Clovers. — Contained 35,200 weed seeds in an im- 

 perial pint, consisting principally of plantain, which 

 was estimated to make up about one-fifth of the weight. 



Take, again, another example of the kind of stuflT 

 which is sent out as " permanent" pasture seed : 



Anahjsis of Mixed Pasture Seeds, 



a. Weeds. 



Seeds in sample. 



Bromus mollis 12~) 



„ steritis 6 



Arihenatherum avenaceum . . 20 | Equal to 



Holcua lanatua 10 j- 552,960 per 



Triticum repens 2 1 bushel. 



Stellaria media 2\ 



Undetermined 2 J 



b. Herbage Plants. 



Festuca duriuacula. ^ 



Poa pratensis. I Good kinds of grasses, &c., 



D.ctyha glomerata. | j,^,^ ^^^^ ^^^ ^jj ^^^ 



Ph eum pratense. ^ ^^^^^ ^j^^j ^-^^ ^j^^. 



Lohum perenne. ^ 



Trifolium pratense. | ° 



„ repens. J 



Estimated weight per bushel, even with the clover seed, 

 Hlbs. ! 



Now these are the sorts of analyses which we have 

 lately been much occupied with, and they show the great 

 importance of analyzing seeds with a view to test their 

 genuineness ; for surely if it be right as a matter of eco- 

 nomy to obtain an analysis of the manure by which a 

 crop is to be supported, it is no less so to ascertain 

 whether we are paying for dirt instead of seed, as this is 

 not a matter merely of an impoverished crop, but one of 

 the introduction of weeds on our farm, the seeds of 

 which we have had to pay for, and which will entail 

 years of expense and toil to eradicate ; for just in pro- 

 portion as these are encouraged, so even the scanty pro- 

 duce of the lessened amount of good seed will gradually 

 but surely decline ; for where " ill weeds grow apace" — 

 and proverbial philosophy and observation shows that 

 this is ever so — the crop must proportionately decline. 



Seeing, then, that the permanent pasture-mixtures 

 are so often such rubbish, it behoves all who may be 

 therein interested to enquire more carefully into the 

 matter than has hitherto been the case, or there could be 

 no market for the trash which is so frequently sown ; 

 and we would shortly indicate the direction such en- 

 quiries should take. 



1st. The mixture is too often empirical. 



2ad. The mixture is mostly impure. 



1. The mixture of seeds, though usually so much 

 paraded as being the result of a critical examination of 

 the sorts suitable for varied situations, is too often a 

 quack prescription made by men who could not distin- 

 guish one grass from another, either in the growing or 

 the dried state ; and even this will seldom be the same 

 for two consecutive seasons : in fact, our experience 

 goes far to prove that a grass formula depends more 



