426 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



figures as we here present shows the great significance 

 of the old saw : 



" One year's seeding 

 Seven years' weeding." 



The rest of the plants of the foregoing table mostly 

 die out before grass cutting ; but still, as they grow with 

 the grasses at the most critical time, as far as yield is 

 concerned, they naturally take up space, to its hindrance ; 

 they are, besides, evidence of poverty, but fortunately 

 they are all of that kind which can only exist in bad 

 grass farming. Cultivate on proper principles, a mea- 

 dow in which they occur, and the amount of success will 

 be indicated by their more or less rapid decrease. 



2nd. Plants which, though innocuous, yet take up 

 Space, and so dilute the Quality of the Hay, and 

 itijure the Productiveness of the Pasturage. — This 

 offers a somewhat large list, as all the plants found in 

 pastures, which have a tall growth, and have neither 

 spines nor other mechanical hindrances, nor any 

 poisonous qualities, must be ranged under this head. 

 These are injurious simply because they take up space 

 which might be better appropriated to the growth of 

 grass or some nutritious herbage ; for, though these 

 have no qualities to cause them to be eaten by cattle, 

 so in the hay they do not nourish, but simply dilute the 

 bulk. Some of these are arranged in 



Table II.~Plants which take up Space, and simply 



DILUTE THE HAY. 



Botanical Name, 



Rumes obtusifolius 

 „ crispus. . . . 

 „ paluetris .. 



Arctium lappa. . , , 



Petusiteg vulgaris.. 



He:;acleura sphon- 



dyliuQi 

 Anthriscua vnlgaria 



Cardamine praten- 



eis 

 Rhinanthus Crista 



Gain 

 The several Com- 



positse 



Trivial Name. 



Blunt-leaved dock . 

 Crisp-leaved dock , 

 Marah dock 



Burdock ... 

 Butter burr. 

 Cow parsnip 



Wild beaked pars- 

 ley 

 Ladies'-smock .... 



Common yellow 



rattle 

 The Hawkweeds & 



others 



Remarh. 



All three rather 

 commou mea- 

 dow plants, espe- 

 cially in damp 

 places. 



The borders of 

 fields. 



By the aide of 

 water-coursea. 



These two umbel- 

 liferaj are very 

 common, & most 

 unsightly. 



In wet meadowa. 



In very poor mea- 

 dows. 

 Everywhei-e, 



These, though only offered by way of examples, yet 

 in themselves make up a formidable list of plants in- 

 jurious to the pasture. Their large leaves and tall 

 stems (in most) take up much room, to the injury of 

 the grass ; and though it is quite true that they go far 

 in making up weight in the trusses of hay, yet the hay 

 will always be of an inferior description : and in fields 

 where plants of this character prevail we shall often 

 have a good pasturage for cattle — that is, the animals 

 will get on well on the grasses, of which only they will 

 partake ; and then one is too apt to be astonished that 

 good feeding meadows should yield a poor hay ; but the 

 truth is that hay, with a fourth of its bulk and weight of 

 these objectionable plants, is diluted to that extent by 

 rubbish in plants of no feeding qualities, and well in- 



deed is it, if they do not many of them contain posi- 

 tively injurious principles. 



How, then, are we to get rid of these pests ? The 

 simplest answer, with regard to the docks and umbelli- 

 fersB, will be — Let them get tolerably strong in their 

 stalks, and then take the opportunity, when the ground 

 is soft, to pull them out of the land. They must not be 

 mown, as in this way small branches, or buds that will 

 make branches, will seed before the summer is over ; 

 and then fifty new plants will appear, for one old one 

 that we have destroyed : but by pulling, we take out 

 the crown, and usually enough root to destroy it. 



But now, as regards pulling docks when the flower 

 has advanced, it is but right to caution the farmer 

 against the practice of putting them in a corner of the 

 field, out of the way ; for the thick, succulent roots will 

 have sufiicient vitality, and especially if kept moist by 

 companionship, to ripen a great portion of the seed ; 

 and then birds or winds, or some other cause, will 

 spread them over the field. With weeds they are never 

 safe, until they are burnt. Even their rotting is an 

 uncertain process, as all may witness who will observe 

 the hosts of weeds that will spring from the top of a 

 manure-heap, or that will at once come up where a 

 manure-heap has been, or indeed that immediately 

 spring up in any place where a dressing of manure has 

 been applied. We have several times noticed, where 

 the seeds of black mustard and charlock have been con- 

 signed to the manure-heap, that these plants were thick 

 enough for a crop to the extent, where such manure 

 had been spread. 



The butter- burr is soon destroyed by preventing its 

 leaves from growing, which may be done by pulling or 

 cutting, and especially if the field be drained as a pre- 

 liminary process. Drainage, too, will destroy the ladies'- 

 smocks. We have seen them disappear in one year by 

 this process. 



The yellow rattle is to be killed by whatever will tend 

 to fertility ; for it is itself an evidence that little 

 grass is destroyed where it grows, as, indeed, it will 

 usually be found in soils too poor to yield anything 

 like a good herbage. 



It is, then, in this way that the plants other than 

 grasses, which occur in our pastures, are evidences of 

 what the pasture requires. One points to wet, an- 

 other to drought, and a third to poverty ; and well 

 would it be if our farmers would but study their 

 habits. Nay, even grasses themselves teach us the 

 same lessons ; for many of the species and their allies 

 should be put in the category of those just adverted 

 to, as they, adding to the risk but not to the quality, 

 indeed only assist in the dilution of the hay. Such 

 are the sedges, and the coarse grasses which will al- 

 ways be found in their company. Both are indica- 

 tions of wet and poverty ; and both will be made to 

 give way to the better sorts, with careful cultivation. 

 Hence, then, we see that much is to be done in the 

 cultivation of meadow ; and, if we only know how to 

 read the lesson the meadow-plants can teach us, they 

 will be our best instructors as to the processes we 

 should call to our aid. 



