226 COMMON WEEDS 



to flower, but the rough spikes are unpleasant, and may 

 be injurious to stock, and the grass is therefore objec- 

 tionable in meadows. 



Wall Barley Grass, or Waybent (Hordeum murinum 

 L.) is an annual with fibrous roots (Fig. 70), and 

 much resembles H. pratense. It is not generally trouble- 

 some, but is often plentiful on dry soils by footpaths, 

 roadsides, and waste places. Cutting before seeding 

 will reduce it. 



FILICES 



Bracken or Brake Fern (Pteris aquilina L.), often 

 simply termed " Fern," is frequently very troublesome 

 on dry upland pastures and rough grazing land. It is 

 especially harmful in Scotland, and even attempts to 

 usurp many good grazings. It is too well known to 

 need much description here. It is a perennial, which 

 spreads by means of an extensively creeping rootstock 

 and also by spores, the latter being scattered in July 

 and August. Bracken has been found one of the most 

 difficult pests to extirpate, and has in the past few years 

 given rise to much discussion. The following means 

 of reducing it have been suggested : 



(1) "If the surface of the ground admits of it, the 

 best method of dealing with Bracken on a large scale 

 is to run chain harrows over the ground at the time the 

 fronds are making their appearance. If this is done 

 thoroughly and persisted in, the plants are greatly 

 weakened." * 



(2) Cutting with the scythe as soon as the Bracken 

 is well grown, say early in June, and repeating the 

 process for several years, weakens the growth of the 

 plants, and the Bracken gradually diminishes in num- 

 bers, but the plan must be persisted in, for " to drive 



1 Jour. Bd. Agric., Sept. 1906, p. 378. 



