654 



THE NATURE BOOK 



Common tormentil is another little 

 plant with more claim to attention, 

 because it is said that besides being 

 nutritious as a herb it has the singular and 

 very useful property of keeping at bay 

 that great scourge on damp pastures — 

 foot-rot ; for where tormentil is grown 

 tliis tiresome and painful complaint seems 

 not to exist, but this is one of those old- 

 fashioned remedies so seldom seen in 

 practice that we may doubt whether it 

 is even known to many farmers. 



There are a number of wild vetches, 

 and as many as ten species are reputed to 

 be of use as pasturage for cattle, though 

 they are not cultivated. In olden times 

 more seems to have been thought of them 

 than is now the case, for an old worthy, 

 Dr. Plot, says in his " Natural History of 

 Stafford " that tufted vetch [Vicia cracca) 

 and wood vetch {V. sylvatica) are able to 

 " advance starven or weak cattle above 

 everything yet known." This sounds 

 curious in these days of cattle foods, but 

 no doubt some of these plants are dis- 

 tinctly valuable, and all cattle seem to 

 like the bush vetch {V. sepinm), extolled 

 by Gerarde, which grows early and late. 

 Lathyriis sylvestris is another handsome 

 and very valuable wild plant, the narrow- 

 leaved everlasting pea. or Wagner's pea, a 

 plant with infinitely more nutriment in it 

 than most of those mentioned already, 

 yet cattle do not take to it very readily. 



The likings of some live stock are very 

 curious, and seemingly irrational as re- 

 gards the buttercup tribe, for if we may 

 believe one authority the field crowfoot is 



greedily eaten by cattle, but is fatal to 

 dogs and sheep, which are not easily 

 poisoned. All the crowfoots are acrid, and, 

 as a rule, are disliked by cattle ; indeed, 

 cases of poisoning have been traced to 

 their consumption of them. The w^ater 

 buttercup [Ranunculus aquatica) also is 

 said to be liked by cattle and even to be 

 nourishing, but cattle are not fond of 

 the ordinary buttercups in the meadows, 

 and as far as they can they do not eat the 

 flower stalks and heads, though it must 

 be difhcult for them to avoid eating the 

 leaves. The notion that buttercups give 

 a rich golden colour to butter seems there- 

 fore to be quite a mistaken one, but it was 

 a very common notion at one time, and 

 " John Buttercup " was a familiar name 

 for a dairyman. 



Some plants have very curious at- 

 tributes, and Polygonum avicnlare is one 

 of these. It is the common knot grass, 

 and is one of the least attractive and 

 luxuriant of plants, yet in olden times 

 it seems to have been much thought of 

 and valued as a " suet producer." Milton 

 and other \\Titers have insisted on the 

 partiality \\hich cattle and sheep show 

 towards it, but this seems rather doubtful, 

 as it is so much in evidence as a weed in 

 some fields. 



Some weed plants, such as the sorrels, 

 are held in estimation by all kinds of live 

 stock, and in the same way a few, such 

 as the spurge laurel, are universally dis- 

 liked ; but goats will eat deadly night- 

 shade, henbane, and other poisonous 

 plants ! 



Gervaise Turn bull. 



