HORTUS GRAMINEUS WOBURNENSIS. 329 



rot without vegetating. There is some difference of opinion with 

 respect to the best season for sowing ; according to several trials 



soon cured by drinking plentifully of water. Tlie branches of heath afford shelter ; 

 and the seeds a principal part of the food of many birds, especially those of the grouse 

 kind ; and the seed-vessel is formed in such a manner that the seeds are preserved 

 the whole year, and even longer. In the north of Scotland ropes are made of it, as 

 strong, as durable, and nearly as pliant, as hemp. Consult Pen. Tour; Garnet's 

 Tour; Light. Scot; Withering, &c. 



5. Bunium hidbocastanuin. Earth-nut, Pig-nut, Yer-nut. E. Bot. 988. — A 

 perennial plant, with a tuberous root. Swine are fond of the roots ; cattle do not 

 appear to touch the leaves or branches. Being a diminutive plant it is not much 

 to be feared as a weed. 



6. Campanula rotundifoUa. Common Bell-flower, Witch's Thimble. E. Bot. 

 866. — There is hardly a plant that indicates more the extreme barrenness of a soil 

 than this. It is a perennial, flowering in July and August ; the flowers are blue, 

 sometimes nearly white. 



7. Centanrca calcitrapa. Star Thistle. E. Bot. t. 125. — This is a biennial 

 plant, and a very troublesome weed. It is frequent by road sides, as well as in dry 

 rough pastures. The flowers are at first deep red. It flowers in July and August. 

 It may be overcome by the same means as were recommended for the dwarf 

 thistle. 



8. Chrysanthemum leucanthemum. Ox-eye Daisy, Moon Flower, Maudlin 

 Wort. E. Bot. 601. — Tliis plant is a perennial, and flowers in June and July. 

 It propagates by the root, and extensively by the seed. There are no means of ex- 

 tirpating it from dry pastures but by converting the land into tillage for several years, 

 and keeping the hedge-rows, path-sides, &c., perfectly clean during the course of 

 crops. 



9. Conzi/a squurrosa. Great Fleabane, Ploughman's Spikenard. Eng. Bot. 

 1195. — A biennial plant, very common on dry sandy pastures, but more particu- 

 larly on converted heaths, and there constitutes the most troublesome weed. The 

 plant is covered widi white woolly hairs, which make it conspicuous ; it grows 

 from two inches to two feet in height, according to the depth of the soil in which 

 it is produced : in hedges it attains to the greatest height. It will be found a vain 

 attempt to subdue this plant, if the hedges and path-sides are suffered to produce 

 and foster it. The seed is produced in abundance, and being light, is easily dis- 

 persed by the wind. It flowers in July and August. Its dwarf size, when in poor 

 soils, and the peculiar stmcture of the plant, render the scythe of little or no use 

 in destroying it. Its presence denotes a great degree of sterility in the soil that 

 encourages its growth. The application of clay or marl will be found the best 

 remedy, as this weed will soon disappear of itself. 



10. Guliuvi verum. Yellow Ladies' Bedstraw, Cheese Renning, Petty Mu;4uet, 

 Yellow Goose-grass. E. Bot. 660. — A perennial, flowering from June till 

 October, more common in the hedges and way-sides than in the body of pastures. 

 It is said the flowers will coagulate boiling milk. The French prescribe them in 

 epileptic and hysteric cases. Boiled in alum-water, they tinge wool yellow. The 

 roots dye a fine red, not inferior to madder, and are used for this purpose in the 



