IMPROVEMENT OF GRASS LAND 163 



flowers carried on the branches on short stalks. Flower- 

 ing takes place in May and June. 



Rest Harrow or Wild Liquorice (Ononis spinosa L.) 

 is in some localities a very harmful pest in pastures on 

 poor heavy land, and some forms of it also on dry, 

 sandy, and gravelly soils. Rest Harrow is a viscid, 

 hairy perennial, with erect shrubby stems i to 2 feet 

 high, narrow, oblong, toothed leaflets, and handsome 

 rosy-pink, vetch-like flowers, appearing singly in the 

 axil of the leaves or in leafy racemes (Fig. 43). The 

 plant is generally spinous, and among hay old dry 

 plants have been mistaken for seedling gooseberries. 

 A form or sub-species, O. repens L., possesses runners, 

 is usually spineless, and has a strong, disagreeable scent. 

 Rest Harrow is a pest in pastures, and is indicative of 

 poor soils. 



This weed must be attacked if in quantity by manur- 

 ing, regular cutting, and close depasturing with stock ; 

 in bad cases it may be necessary to plough up the 

 pasture, give a thorough cleaning and manuring, and 

 again lay down to grass in the usual manner. 



ROSACES; 



Meadow-sweet, Queen of the Meadow (Spircea 

 Ulmaria L.) is a tall, handsome perennial, attaining to 

 4 feet in height ; it sometimes occurs very freely in 

 meadow land and damp places, such as water meadows. 

 Meadow-sweet is herbaceous, with large leaves upwards 

 of a foot long from the base of the plant, interruptedly 

 pinnate, with serrate edges, and white and downy be- 

 neath. The flowers, which appear between June and 

 August, are collected in large compound cymes 2 to 6 

 inches in diameter ; each single flower is small, about 

 J inch in diameter, white or nearly so, and sweetly 



