THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



425 



NOTES ON MEADOWS AND PASTURES. 



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



Professor of Botany and Geology at the Royal Agricultural College. 



In our last number we ske*;ched out a kind of classi- 

 fication of tlie weeds which prevail in pasture, which 

 was made dependent rather upon the influence which 

 interlopers to the meadow exercise upon the crop 

 whether of hay or pasturage, than upon the natural 

 affinities of the plants themselves, and we now venture 

 to remark upon the five classes as there laid down, and 

 in doing so we shall offer lists in each category, which 

 it should be stated are not meant to be complete as em- 

 bracing them all, but only as containing the more 

 prominent species. 



Ist. Plants ivhich are Weeds in Pastures, without 

 adding to the Crop either of Grass or Hay. — There are 

 few pastures without a varied selection of specimens, 

 which have this effect, which is produced in two different 

 ways : first, by plants which grow so flat on the ground 

 that the scythe does not touch them ; and secondly, 

 that by reason of their early growth and short existence 

 they are dead before hay-making. These are clearly 

 indicated in the following : 



Table I. — Plants which take up Spaces, but yield 



Botanical Name. 

 Fluutago media. . . 



NO Produce. 

 Trivial Name, 



Broad-leaved plantain. 



Remarks. 



' The leaves of 



these growtoo 



close to the 



Leon todon taraxacum Dens de Lleon -{ ground to be 



I eaten off by 

 cattle or be cut 

 tby the scythe. 



Bellis perennia . . , 



/ These take up 



Primula veri*. . CowsUp { room in growing, 



are not eaten by 

 P. vulgaris Primrose : cattle, and being 



Orchis morio. . Green-winged orchis, . I ^^^^ before hay- 



I making add little 



0. maacula. . .. Early purple orchis . . j or nothiog to the 



\rick. 



In remarking upon the influence which the plants of 

 this list have upon pasture, it may be premised that 

 each species has its own peculiar history, which we 

 must indicate rather than fill up, as thus. We have 

 just been examining a pasture on the Forest marble clay, 

 full of the three first species of the above list. Of the 

 plantain we made out as many as twenty-five roots in 

 the square yard, varying from 2 to 6 inches across ; we 

 removed them, and bare patches to the extent of a 

 quarter of the surface was the result. Of the dandelion 

 we have as many as six tufts in the square yard, each 

 more than half-a-foot across : we remove them, and in 

 so doing have sown some hundreds of flying seeds over 

 the rest of this field, or sent them to our neighbour. 

 And now for the " wee modest crimson-tipped flower," 

 looking so bright with its silvery stars dotting the green 



field; surely this is not a weed? Alas! yes, '"'all is 

 not gold that glitters," or silver that is bright, and on 

 the spot where the daisy is growing a grass root is not, 

 and we have just stepped out to look at a meadow half 

 daisies. However, as regards these three plants, there 

 is no doubt that the two first are the most mischievous, 

 and the question of how to keep plantains and dande- 

 lions out of the pastures, and still more out of lawns, is 

 one worth more attention than has yet been given to it. 

 With respect to the plantain, we know of no better 

 method than absolutely cutting them up with a common 

 knife, and dropping a bit of salt in each hole, as without 

 this they sprout up again from any part of the old crown 

 that might be left in. Mr. Bailey Denton invented an 

 implement for this kind of weed destruction, which 

 would eject a caustic fluid as it cut up the plants, and 

 he named it the " scorpion spud." We should, how- 

 ever, conceive that the knife, as recommended, would be 

 sufficiently simple, and though it would appear to be 

 an onerous and expensive mattei, yet we have found 

 that a boy can easily clean pastures very foul with 

 plantain, (and dandelions should be removed at the same 

 time, and in like manner) at one shilling an acre, a cost 

 which would be amply covered by the first hay crop, 

 for it would indeed be a comparatively small admixture 

 of plantain that did not take up the space that would 

 grow a hundred weight of hay, to say nothing of the 

 pasturages. As regards seeds for laying down permanent 

 pasture, care should always be exercised to prevent this 

 plant from being sown, as a few seeds will soon 8to«k 

 the ground ; for as the new pasture is left pretty much 

 to itself, for some two or three years the plantains in- 

 crease very rapidly, when it is considered that a single 

 root may in one year produce from three to six thou- 

 sand seeds. From the closeness with which the Plantago 

 media grows to the soil, only a few leaves are cut with 

 the scythe, and hence it may be said to add nothing of 

 importance to the rick ; the other species, P. lanceolata, 

 has a more upright habit, and does contribute slightly 

 to the bulk, but still of matter far inferior to grasses ; 

 and both, if they are cut, are objectionable, as taking so 

 long in drying ; a crop of hay which would otherwise 

 be made is thus often jeopardized, as, unless care be taken 

 to have the plantains thoroughly dry, they may cause 

 the firing of the rick, and it is from this circumstance 

 that the plantain is popularly called " fire grass." Care 

 should be taken to prevent the seeding of dandelions in 

 way-sides and waste places — a matter of some importance 

 when we consider that each flower head may produce as 

 many as 170 seeds, and we have seen as many as twelve 

 heads to a single root at one time, and they keep on 

 forming for several montts ; it is indeed of consequence 

 always to prevent weeds seeding if possible, and such 



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