136 PERMANENT AND TEMPORARY PASTURES 



hedgerows and ditches, or from the carelessness of neighbours, 

 who permit the dissemination of weed seeds, to their own loss 

 and that of adjoining owners. In this matter it is not often 

 possible to control the action of others, but it is the duty of 

 every occupier to destroy with an unsparing hand the evil 

 tenants of his own land. 



From the series of experiments made by the late Sir J. B. 

 Lawes and Sir J. H. Gilbert at Rothamsted, and confirmed 

 by my own independent trials at Dyson's Wood and Kidmore 

 Grange, it has been demonstrated that most of the annual 

 and not a few of the perennial weeds can be, for all practical 

 purposes, eliminated from a pasture by applications of 

 combined mineral and ammoniacal salts. Judicious dressings 

 of these salts augment the growth of the stronger grasses, 

 so that buttercups, dandelions, plantains, sorrel, and Sriza 

 media are starved out, and even Bromus mollis is considerably 

 reduced in vigour. Lime alone is a powerful aid in promoting 

 luxuriance among the better class of herbage, and is also 

 distinctly prejudicial to weeds, especially to those of annual 

 duration. Early cutting, too, has produced remarkable effects 

 in discouraging weed life. In the years 1891 and 1892 part 

 of a meadow at Kidmore Grange, thickly strewn with weeds, 

 was cut in advance of the usual haymaking season, and in 

 the second year a marked diminution of worthless plants was 

 perceptible, as compared with the remaining portion, which had 

 been cut at the time usual in the district. 



To enumerate all the worthless plants found in pastures 

 is beyond the design of this chapter. In alluding to those 

 which are most common and injurious to stock, opportunity 

 will be seized to indicate the readiest means of reducing their 

 numbers and of preventing their perpetuation. 



Coltsfoot {Tussilago Farfara). — Pastures on poor, stiff 

 clays are not infrequently overrun with this weed. The 

 creeping underground stems render spudding impossible, but 

 the yellow flower-heads, which appear in advance of the leaves 



