270 COMMON WEEDS 



meadow land, well managed pastures being seldom in- 

 fested. Mr. ]. P. Sheldon wrote in ^oy 1 "that an 

 abundant growth of this weed appears to be promoted 

 by a prevalent low temperature in the period when 

 grass in meadow is or ought to be a little past the 

 middle of its growth. In a warm and < growing ' 

 state of weather at this period all meadows worth their 

 salt fill up with bottom grass, and the Yellow Rattle is 

 not seen." Another authority 2 says that well-drained 

 meadows seldom suffer, but chiefly poor meadow land 

 by streams which are fed more by stagnant water than 

 by drainage waters ; while in 1907 the Board of Agri- 

 culture received specimens from Sussex, where the 

 weed was overrunning land on chalk under down 

 grass. 3 It is found in Britain as far north as the 

 Shetland Isles, and in the Scottish Highlands occurs 

 as much as 2500 feet above sea-level (Hooker). 



Several preventive and remedial measures may be 

 practised : 



(1) Early mowing before the seeds ripen ; when this 

 has been followed two years in succession, entirely 

 satisfactory results have been obtained. Late mowing 

 with the grass for hay is useless, for many of the 

 seeds will have ripened and become distributed by the 

 wind. 



(2) A general improvement in the pasture should 

 be aimed at, and depasturing with sheep in spring, 

 followed by the application of 6 to 8 cwt. of basic 

 slag on heavy land in November, or 5 cwt. super- 

 phosphate on lighter land in February, will be certain 

 to reduce the weed, and if close grazing is regularly 

 practised for a time the Yellow Rattle will probably 

 disappear. 



1 Agricultural Gazette, July 8, 1907. 



2 A. Thaer, Landw. Unkrduter. 



3 Jour. Bd. Agric., May, 1908. 



