84* HOW TO GROW GOOD GRASSES. 



season when the flowers begin to expand, and again 

 when the broad leaves come up in spring; this so 

 crushes and bruises the whole plant, that a season or 

 two of such treatment will be enough to keep it under, 

 if not to destroy it outright. 



As regards the buttercups, the most acrid one— viz., 

 the upright tall species, a constant plant in marshy 

 meadows and wet places — is the only one to be parti- 

 cular about. Cattle do not usually eat it, but it finds 

 its way into the hay, and there is reason to think to 

 its prejudice. It is to be got under by draining and 

 close depasturing, so that by treading down it shall 

 not seed; but poverty, induced by frequent haymaking 

 and wet, by keeping under the growth of what is 

 better, gives greater facility for the success of trash 

 of this as well as of other kinds. 



Ergotised grasses, by which we mean those affected 

 with the black spur, in the place of the seed, or grain, 

 is a common affection of grasses in autumn in low- 

 lying or in damp places, or where fields may be 

 enveloped in mist, as on some of our hill-ranges. 

 This black spur is largest in the cereal rye, but it 

 occurs in most other species of grasses, differing 

 according to the size of their seeds. 



Ergot of rye is used medicinally, and there is little 

 doubt but that ergot in other grasses is equally active. 

 Its effects seem to be to favour abortion; and there 

 is reason to believe that it has caused many valuable 

 animals to abort. Some few years since the late 

 Earl Ducie suffered a loss of calves to an extent 

 which he calculated to equal as much as £1,000 in 

 one year ; at that time the grasses, consisting mostly 

 of the perennial rye-grass, were submitted to our 

 inspection, and they were much affected by ergot. 



