WATER AND WEEDS 295 



used alone, perhaps because there are fewer varieties of plants 

 represented in such cases, there is often a difficulty in the 

 manipulation of the products, more especially cheese. Young 

 gras's possesses one special advantage over old pasture, in 

 springing earlier in the season, and it is good in conjunction 

 with old pasture for encouraging the flow of milk. There are 

 many upland grasses and plants, forming the food of mountain 

 sheep, that must not be considered inferior for dairying ; as 

 light hardy cows often do well on wild-looking pasture in hilly 

 districts, rented at from 6s. to IDS. per acre, if a wide area be 

 given, so that they may have ample choice of food say, 

 between 3 and 4 acres of pasture for each, and the aftermath of 

 2 acres of meadow cut annually for hay. The meadow should 

 produce a little over 2 tons of fodder, or sufficient for a small 

 cow of 8 or. 9 cwts. live- weight during winter, without roots or 

 any artificial food, till after calving-time in spring. Subse- 

 quently each cow requires mixed meal and cake to the 

 value of 2Os. to 253., to keep up the flow of milk until the 

 grass grows sufficiently to support her. 



Of weeds that give a taste and smell to milk or butter, 

 species of A Ilium are perhaps the worst and most common, 

 besides being very difficult to be got rid of, viz., broad-leaved 

 garlic (ramsons), A. ursinum, and round garlic (crow allium), 

 A. vineale. Garlic mustard (sauce alone), Alliaria officinalis, 

 with a small white flower, and several other varieties of wild 

 mustard; also camomile, A nt/temis, and ivy, Hedera, give a 

 taste to milk. As most objectionable weeds grow in the 

 shade and shelter of fences, the injury may be minimised by 

 frequently cutting weeds found in such places. The roots of 

 water-hemlock or cowbane are poisonous, but they are not 

 very accessible, and, moreover, the plant is not a common 

 one in pasture. Buttercups, Ranunculacece, are thought by 

 some to give a rich golden tint to butter, and by others to 

 produce an acrid taste in milk and its products. Most 

 probably both ideas are wrong, although the first was at one 

 time so prevalent that the familiar name of "John Buttercup" 

 was given to the dairyman. In May and June, the buttercup 

 season, grass-butter is naturally yellow, when cows go on 

 good pasture, even when buttercups are not present. The 

 change to the yellow colour is rapid at this season, forming a 

 marked contrast to the pale " house-butter " of winter and 



