174 
THE PRINCIPLES OF BOTANY. 
1st. Plants which are weeds by reason of their taking up 
space without adding to the crop, either of grass or hay. 
2nd. Plants innocuous in themselves, but which yet take 
up space in the pasture without yielding food, and also dilute 
the quality and quantity of the hay. 
3rd. Plants which, by reason of their mechanical struc- 
ture, are inconvenient to cattle, both for pasture and hay. 
4th. Plants of poisonous properties. 
5th. Plants which, though not poisonous, impart a dis- 
agreeable flavour to milk, butter, and cheese. 
6th. Useless grasses, sedges, rushes, and the like. 
We now venture to remark upon the heads as here laid 
down, and in so doing shall offer lists in each division, which, 
it should be stated, is not meant to be complete as embracing 
them all, but only as containing the more prominent 
species. 
1. Plants which are weeds in pastures without adding to the 
crop. — There are few pastures without a varied selection of spe- 
cimens which have this effect, which is produced in two differ- 
ent ways : — first, by plants which grow so flat on the ground 
that the scythe does not touch them ; and, secondly, that, by 
reason of their early growth and short existence, they are dead 
before haymaking ; and though some of them may be eaten 
in early pasturage, they are of little value as food. These 
are clearly indicated in the following : 
Table of useless Pasture Plants. 
Botanical name. 
Plantago media . . 
Leontodon Taraxacum 
Beilis perennis . . 
Primula veris . . . 
„ vulgaris . . 
Orcliis morio . . . 
„ mascula . . . 
Trivial Name. 
Broad-leaved Plantain 
Dens de Leon . . . 
Daisy 
Cowslip 
Primrose .... 
Green-winged Orcliis 
Early Purple orcliis . 
Remarks. 
1 The leaves of these 
grow too close to 
! the ground to be 
J ' eaten off by cattle, 
or be cut by the 
scythe. 
'I These take up room 
in growing, are 
not eaten by cattle, 
- and being dead be- 
fore hay - making, 
add little or no- 
J thing to the rick. 
If we take the plantain as a type of these, we have in it a 
plant which lies flat to the ground, with a circle of leaves 
from five to ten inches in diameter ; the space, then, that it 
takes up in a field is not inconsiderable. 
But the daisy should teach us something beyond this, as 
its presence in quantity is an evidence of extreme poverty in 
