2OO 



COMMON WEEDS 



be sown, unless care be taken to ensure pure clover 

 seed. The plant also occurs naturally in damp grass 

 land. It is held to indicate poor, sterile land, and in 

 Scotland is known by the name " Blaw-weary." Close 

 grazing with sheep receiving cake, or sound judicious 

 . *' ''\~-\ manurial treat- 



ment, will effect 

 an improvement 

 in the herbage 

 and a reduction 

 in the weed. On 

 heavy land basic 

 slag is useful in 

 checking it, and 

 on light soils 

 superphosphate. 



Common Bugle 

 (Ajuga reptans L.) 

 is another peren- 

 nial, somewhat 

 similar to Self- 

 heal, the stems 

 being 6 to 12 

 inches high, and 

 the leaves sessile 

 and ovate. The 

 blue flowers are 

 arranged in loose whorls in longish spikes (2 to 8 

 inches long). They open in May to July. The plant, 

 which is common by roadsides and in grass land, is 

 spread by seed and by stolons or runners (Fig. 57). 

 It may be combated in the same way as Self-heal. 



Photo, 1909. 



H. C. Long. 



FIG. 57. Common Bugle (Ajuga reptans L.), 

 in a pasture. 



