BARREN SOILS. 
valuation, is to describe its vegetation in very 
general terms, and without specification of any 
of its grasses or other plants. A valuator, for 
example, might say, respecting the several parts 
of a comparatively barren tract of land, “The 
herbage of one piece is of a bad quality ; the bot- 
tom is mossy; the herbage of another piece is 
short, but sweet, and thick at the bottom; this 
piece will produce very tough fodder, and is 
coarse and benty; that piece will produce a 
rough, peaty, sour grass; and yonder piece is 
covered with poor benty herbage.” But though 
such general notices are, in some degree, useful, 
an observation of the precise plants which con- 
stitute the herbage of any soils is essential to a 
fair knowledge of such indications of barrenness 
as are afforded by vegetation. Some plants in- 
variably demonstrate the comparative infertility 
or worthlessness of every spot of soil on which 
they are found; and others demonstrate barren- 
ness only when they occur in considerable quan- 
tities, yet sometimes indicate it when they are 
not abundant, and always ought at least to excite 
suspicion, and provoke thorough examination. 
Most of the plants which we shall name are of 
the former kind; and all ought to be readily re- 
cognisable by every person who pretends to judge 
of the infertility of land from the character of its 
herbage. 
The following plants grow indigenously on very 
poor or almost worthless grassy lands :—Agri- 
mony, Agrimonia eupatoria, on dry sandy soil; 
rough dandelion, Apargia hispida, on dry barren 
pastures; common daisy, Bellis perennis, on land 
of all kinds from medium quality to barren, but 
never on good pastures; wood betony, Betonica 
officinalis, in woods and shady places; clustered 
bell-flower, Campanula glomeraia, on elevated 
chalk pastures ; round-leaved or heath bell-flower, 
Campanula rotundifolia, on heaths and dry barren 
pastures ; the prickliest thistle, Carduus acanthot- 
des, and some other species of Cardwus, and of 
the genera immediately allied to it, on corn-fields, 
on embankments, and among rubbish ; early 
flowering rush, Carex precox, on wet heaths and 
poor meadows; flea rush, Carex pulicaris, and 
several other carices, particularly the well-known 
and much-disliked carnation grass, on boggy 
meadows and wet elevated grounds; star th'stle, 
star knapweed, or blue bottle, Centaurea calcitrapa, 
on barren meadows; white goosefoot, Chenopodi- 
um album, on very poor cultivated land; moon- 
flower, ox-eye daisy, or greater daisy, Chrysanthe- 
mum leucanthemum, on walls, road-sides, and 
poor, dry pastures; corn marigold, yellow ox- 
eye, gule, or gulegowans, Chrysanthemum segetum, 
on poor, sandy, cultivated soil; cursed thistle, or 
creeping plume-thistle, Cnicus arvensis, on bad 
cultivated land; marsh plume-thistle, Cnicus 
palustris, on wet clayey pastures; smooth or 
roof hawksbeard, Orepis tectorwm, on walls, roofs, 
and bad pastures ; foxglove or bloody-finger, Digi- 
talis purpurea, on dry, gravelly, sandy ground ; 
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nailwort or whitlow grass, Draba verna, on walls 
and arid places; common heath, ling, or heather, 
Erica vulgaris, on moors, in woods, and on com- 
mons; common eyebright, Huphrasia officinalis, 
on moors and dry barren meadows; cheese ren- 
net, yellow goosegrass, or yellow ladies’ bedstraw, 
Galium verum, on dry, hilly pastures ; ground- 
ivy, alehoof, turnhoof, or catsfoot, Glechoma hede- 
raced, on poor, shady spots of ground; chafeweed 
or common cudweed, Gnaphalium germanicum, 
on barren meadows: smooth catsear, Zypocheris 
glabra, on sandy and gravelly soils ; scabious 
sheep’s-bit or hairy: sheep scabious, Jastone mon- 
tana, on arid grounds, on moorlands, and on 
sandy, barren pastures and meadows; common 
field rush, Juncus campestris, and other species of 
juncus, on poor, wet, spouty land; cammock, 
petty-whin, rest harrow, or ground furze, Ononis 
spinosa, on barren pastures; wild carline thistle, 
Onopordum vulgaris, on dry pastures and mea- 
dows; hoary plantain or lamb’s lettuce, Plantago 
media, on all sorts of soils, but chokes good her- 
bage; silver weed, Potentilla anserina, on arid 
sands and on low grounds which are subject to 
winter floods; barren strawberry, Potentilla fra- 
garia, on dry, stony, barren grounds; cowslip, 
Primula veris, on strong clayey land; primrose, 
Primula vulgaris, on clayey soils, on moorlands, 
and in woods and thickets; penny grass, hen- 
penny, coxcomb, or yellow rattle, Rhinanthus 
Christa-galli, on pastures and meadows; sheep’s 
sorrel, Aumex acetosella, on gravel walks and on 
sandy pastures and meadows; common broom, 
Spartium scoparvum, on dry pastures; coltsfoot, 
Tussilago farfara, on limestone rubbish, and on 
moist, stiff, clayey soil; wild thyme, Thymus ser- 
pyllum, on moorlands and barren alpine grounds; 
furze, gorse, or whins, Ulex nanus, on barren 
commons ; and clafstail, black mullein, or sage- 
leaved mullein, Verbascum nigrum, on dry, sandy 
lands. 
The following grasses grow indigenously on 
soils which are dry, sandy, and elevated, or which 
are wet, peaty, or morassy, and on which good 
pasture grasses, even when artificially sown on 
them, either will not grow, or will speedily be- 
come extinct.—Common bent, Agrostis vulgaris, 
on moors and dry pastures, not only in low situ- 
ations, but so high as 2,000 feet above sea-level ; 
brown bent, Agrostis canina, in patches on poor, 
wet, peaty soil; white-rooted bent, Agrostis alba, 
on dry, sandy meadows, and on poor dry pastures, 
whether low or very mountainous ; creeping- 
rooted bent, Agrostis repens, on clayey soils; nar- 
row-leaved creeping bent, Agrostis stolonifera 
angustifolia, on clayey soils, by the sides of ditches, 
and on cold wet mountains to the elevation of 
2,000 feet; marsh bent, Agrostis palustris, in damp, 
shady, stagnant places, and on similar mountains 
as the preceding; rock bent, Agrosivs stricta, on 
damp boggy soils; water hair grass, Azra aquatica, 
in ditches, and wet muddy places, whether hilly 
or champaign; tufted hair grass, Azra cespitosa, 
