208 



The Condition of Permanent Meadows. 



FJrNE. 



individually (5 to 10 and in some cases over 30 per cent.) 

 to hay crops is connparatively small; the following are 

 probably the worst offenders in this respect : — Sorrel {Unmex 

 Acetosa), Yellow Rattle (Rhinanthus spp.). Beaked Parsley 

 (Anthrisciis sylvestris), Hogweed {Heradeum Sj)hondylium), 

 Meadow Sweet {Spinea Vlmaria), Hard Heads iCentaurea nigra), 

 Ox Eye Daisy {Chrysarithemnm Leucanthemum), Dandelion* 

 {Taraxacum officinale) and Eib Grass {Plantago hniceolata). 



Botanical analyses made on meadows in Lancashire which were 

 apparently excellent (in a county which gives the highest average 

 yields per acre from permanent grass!) have shown that the hay 

 consisted in many cases of over 15 per cent, and in some cases up 

 to nearly 30 per cent, of Sorrel. In the same county meadows 

 came under observation where Dandelions were almost the pre- 

 dominant element in the flora. Meadows wdiere this weed, with 

 Bib Grass and Cat's Ear. contribute in abundance to the hay 

 are not uncommon in Montgomeryshire. 



Beports on manurial trials afford further evidence as to the 

 weediness of meadow hay. At Garforth, on a meadow 

 yielding above the average (for the country as a whole) , the 

 unmanured plot consisted of about 18 per cent, of weeds, 

 chiefly Sorrel. J In Gloucestershire, on meadows yielding above 

 the average, the unmanured plots have contained from 2 ta 

 13 per cent, of weeds. § Comparatively good meadows have 

 been noted in Lancashire and the western counties, containing 

 over 8 per cent, of Beaked Parsley. Yellow Battle, although 

 most abundant on poor meadows, sometimes contributes over 

 15 per cent, to the hay on comparatively good fields, whilst 

 the hay from poor meadows in Wales has been analysed and 

 has frequently shown Yellow Battle to constitute over 30 per 

 cent, of the hay produced.!! The Ox Eye Daisy is abundantly 

 met with both on fairly good and on very poor meadows. At 

 Bothamsted, where the average produce from the unmanured 

 plots is above that of the average of the country as a whole, the 

 weed contribution to the hay on the unmanured plot is about 

 26 per cent. 11 At Cockle Park, where the average produce 

 from the unmanured plots is below that of the average of the 



* Soft Crepis (Crepis virens) and Cat's Ear ( Hypochoeris radicata) are 

 often fairly abundant, the former also being qommon on leys, 

 t 34-5 cwt. per acre for 1910-1919, and 



36-4 „ „ „ 1903-1912. 

 t The University of Leeds, Agric. Dept., Bulletin No. 113. 

 § Royal Agricultural College, ^SW. Bull. Nos. 4 and 5 for 1912 and 1913. 

 II The produce of one meadow consisted of 45 per cent, of Yellow Rattle. 

 % A. D. Hall : An account of the Rothamsted Experiments, 1905. 



