CHAPTER XI.
ON MEADOW PLANTS OTHER THAN GRASSES.
With the grass of the field will usually be found a large proportion of plants of a very varied, variable, and different kind. Of these, many are useful as augmenting the mass, and even improving the quality of a pasture; whilst, as others are altogether objectionable, we shall presently notice them under the head of “Meadow Weeds.”
Of the more useful adjuncts of the meadow we may tabulate the following:—
| No. | Trivial Names. | Botanical Names. |
| 1 | Red clover | Trifolium pratense. |
| 2 | Zigzag clover | „ medium. |
| 3 | White or Dutch clover | „ repens. |
| 4 | Birdsfoot | Lotus corniculatus. |
| 5 | Yellow vetchling | Lathyrus pratensis. |
| 6 | Purple vetchling | „palustris. |
| 7 | Saintfoin | Onobrychis sativa. |
| 8 | Burnet | Sanguisorba officinalis. |
| 9 | False burnet | Poterium Sanguisorba. |
| 10 | Tormentil | Tormentilla officinalis. |
| 11 | Yarrow | Achillæa millefolia. |
| 12 | Agrimony | Agrimonia Eupatoria. |
| 13 | Plantain | Plantago lanceolata. |
| Some of the smaller Compositæ. | ||
| DittoUmbelliferæ. | ||
Of these, which are arranged pretty nearly in their order of merit, the clovers are by far the most important. These, as meadow plants, will usually be found under the following circumstances:—
No. 1. Plentiful in good, rich, sound meadows.
„2. Frequent in meadows on light sandy soils.
„3. On thin but good soil, upland meadows.
The clovers, and indeed the clover allies, Papilionaceæ, as a whole, are partial to lime,—so much so, that a dressing of this mineral to some fields in which clovers are scarcely represented will very quickly cause an accelerated growth of them; hence road dirt, when made from calcareous stones, as are the oolitic and mountain limestones, affords a good vehicle for the admixture of manures or ameliorators, such as guano, burnt ashes, soot, nitrate of soda, &c.
The following remarks upon these three clovers are from a paper by the author in the Bath and West of England Agricultural Journal, vol. x., part 2:—
1. Trifolium pratense—Meadow or Broad-leaved Clover—in its wild state is too well known to need any lengthened description. A careful examination of field specimens will show that even in the wild state this plant is liable to run into numberless variations; thus, we may have the leaflets of one plant broad and almost obcordate at the extremity, whilst others will be more or less ovate and lancet-shaped. In some we may see dense heads of purple flowers, varying in shade until almost white, whilst less dense heads of flowers and general variations in height, size, and luxuriance of the whole plant, are all circumstances in the natural history of this species in the wild state, which will prepare us duly to understand the nature of the many forms of the plant which are found in cultivation. Of these we have, besides others, English, French, American, and Dutch sorts, which differ in such minor details as a greater or less hairiness, or variations in the colour and size of the flowers, leaves, &c. The most important point connected with the broad-leaved clover is its permanency; some sorts scarcely maintaining a plant for two years, whilst others are said to be more or less perennial. This, however, is a matter which we conceive depends more upon the soil and the[75] kind of cultivation than upon the sort; for although all seedsmen supply two sorts, namely, Trifolium pratense and T. pratense perenne, yet they run so much the one into the other, that it is oftentimes exceedingly difficult to distinguish them. If, therefore, a farmer wants a good strain of broad clover, he should purchase his seed from seedsmen possessing judgment and character; for experience has taught us that a seed which may be all that is required in one district may result in next to a failure in another. Thus, clover-seed from the warmer parts of England does not succeed well when sown in cold, exposed positions; but that from the latter is improved on transmission to the former, whilst good changes are effected by the occasional use of foreign seed.
The sort known in the market as T. pratense perenne is probably intermediate between the wild species T. pratense and T. medium. Our own experiments have shown that, on cultivating T. medium, which is a sand-lover, in strong land, in three years it has been very difficult to distinguish it from some of the varieties of T. pratense. We incline, therefore, to the opinion that as the T. medium holds to sandy soils in the wild state, its seed was brought into cultivation with a view to light-soil cropping; and from this source has probably been derived the so-called T. pratense perenne, which variety is certainly more perennial in such light soils as would be quite unfit for the true T. pratense. The latter, indeed, seems to be more permanent in soils containing a quantity of lime, while the former, where it can be got of a good sort, is certainly best adapted for sandy soils.
2. Trifolium medium—Zigzag Trefoil—is distinguished from the T. pratense by its larger, but more lax, head of reddish pink (not purple) flowers, which are solitary, on the apex of a stalk, which at each joint is bent at a considerable angle; hence its name. Its leaflets are elliptical, and not broader at the upper margin. This plant is a constant denizen of sands and light soils. In fact, its naturally growing in soils unfitted for the broad-leaved clover seems to recommend it for cultivation; and though, as before pointed out, we more than suspect that the so-called cow-grass clover was originally derived from this source, and that the T. medium is after all but a variety of the T. pratense, it is now quite merged as a farm-plant into the broad-clover forms; so that, if we are to possess it as a separate plant, it must be again grown from the wild seed; and then, if it is to be kept pure, it must not be cultivated on clays or limestones, or, if our view be correct, it will soon lose its true distinctive character.
3. Trifolium repens—White Dutch Clover—has been long in cultivation[76] throughout Europe and America. It is one of our commonest native plants, and appears to have become less changed by cultivation than most other plants; yet there is reason to think that with careful selection a much improved strain may be brought about. In pastures an immense accession of Dutch clover is often seen to follow some kind or another of top-dressing, especially of lime, old mortar, or town rubbish. This is accounted for by the fact that this clover is in reality of universal occurrence; and its creeping habit of growth, besides seeding, causes it soon to make a rapid increase where its conditions of growth are made suitable. As an agricultural plant its position is in light soils, for which it is usually mixed with other clovers and grasses in varied proportions.
4 and 5 are often found scattered in meadows, though not usually in any abundance in those of the richer kind; still, in laying down land for permanent pasture, there can be no objection to a small admixture of their seed.
6, the Purple Vetchling, though local in rich river pastures, is yet a good plant, and might perhaps be advantageously brought out as an addendum to mixtures designed for good lowland positions.
7, Saintfoin, is a good pasture plant for chalks and limestones; and in laying down land for permanent pastures in such position, should not usually be omitted. It is also a good species to sow on railway banks, not alone for the beauty of its flowers, but for the binding effects of its deeply-diving roots.
8 and 9, the Burnets, will be found,—the true in rich damp bottoms and on river flats, the false on dry, calcareous soils. They are neither plants that we should care to grow; but in their wild state in their respective pastures we should, on the other hand, not be inclined to make war against them as weeds. The same opinion, indeed, might be briefly expressed as regards Nos. 10, 12, and 13. In fact, the whole here grouped may be said to possess more or less bitter and astringent qualities, and so become useful in checking the vapidity which is sometimes found in purely grass herbage.
11, the Yarrow, should be encouraged in most pastures, as it not only possesses the qualities just mentioned, but its leaves are so small and its stems and flowers so easily dry when cut, that there is no chance of its smothering out the grass in growing, or of its retarding the process of haymaking. It also bears constant nibbling with sheep, which are remarkably fond of it, without injury, as it rather becomes finer for being depastured.
12. The larger composite plants, as dandelion, the hawkweeds, blackhead, &c., are, from their coarseness and the room they take up, highly objectionable; but the yellow hawkbits, thrincia, and the before-mentioned yarrow, are by no means objectionable.
13. The above remarks will equally apply to the Umbelliferæ. Large plants like the cow-parsnip and common beaked parsley are objectionable from their size and want of feeding properties, whilst the small pimpinella and earth-nut do not offer these objections. Here, however, it must be confessed that we are bordering on the domains of weeds in pasture, to which we must devote a separate chapter.