Science and Practice in Farm Cultivation - James Buckman

CHAPTER XII.

ON THE WEEDS OF PASTURE.

“Weeds in pasture!” said an old farmer friend; “I thought hay and grass was all weeds.” This, which is by no means an uncommon notion, sufficiently explains the want of care in the cultivation of the best kinds of meadow produce, which can only be effected by the destruction of what is useless or mischievous.

Now, if we proceed upon the assumption that the best kinds of meadow are remarkable for the possession of little else than the best kinds of the true grasses, we shall see that pasturage should, in the main, be composed of good grass-growth, with only some few other plants which may be capable of augmenting quantity, by their nutritive matter, giving flavour, or improving quality.

It follows, then, that all plants having none of these requisites must be, to all intents and purposes, only mischievous weeds; as thus a large useless plant in a meadow, as in an arable field, must not only occupy the space that would be better taken up by good plants, but it appropriates a large quantity of food to the prejudice of the better crop.

Viewed in this light, then, what a mass of weeds some of our pastures will be found to contain! In fact, what with useless plants, other than grasses, and coarse, sour, or useless grasses themselves, we meet with so-called meadows to which the terms of “barren moor” or waste land would be especially applicable.

The following table is offered as an attempt at the classification of the weeds of pasture, the different divisions of which we shall presently describe in the order of their arrangement.

TABLE OF PASTURE WEEDS.

1. Plants which take up space but yield no Produce.
Trivial Name.	Botanical Name.		Remarks

Broad-leaved Plantain.	Plantago media	-	The leaves of these plants grow too close to the ground to be eaten off by cattle or to cut for hay.
Dent-de-lion	Leontodon taraxacum
Daisy	Bellis perennis

Cowslip	Primula veris	-	These plants take up much room in growing, they are not eaten by cattle, and, as they die before haymaking, yield little or nothing to the rick.
Primrose	„vulgaris
Green-winged Orchis	Orchis Morio
Early Purple Orchis	„ mascula
2. Plants which take up space, but simply dilute the hay with useless matter.
Blunt-leaved Dock	Rumex obtusifolius	-	All common, especially in damp meadows, are not usually depastured, and have little or no feeding properties when made into hay.
Crisp-leaved Dock	„ crispus
Marsh Dock	„ palustris
Field Sorrel	„ acetosa

Burdock	Arctium Lappa	-	Common about the borders of fields.

Butter Burr	Petasites vulgaris	-	Common near water courses.

Cow Parsnip	Heracleum Sphondylium	-	Very common and unsightly in pastures.
Wild-beaked Parsley	Anthriscus vulgaris	-	Very common and unsightly in pastures.

Ladies’ Smock	Cardamine pratensis	-	In damp places.

Yellow Rattle	Rhinanthus crista galli	-	In poor cold clays.

Larger Hawkweeds, &c.	Hieracium species	-	About fields in upland districts.
3. Mechanical Plants, those with Spines, Prickles, Stings, &c.
Musk Thistle	Carduus nutans	-	Mostly a weed in “seeds.”

Welted Thistle	„ acanthoides	-	In hedgerows, borders of fields, or the open meadows.
Creeping Thistle	„ arvensis
Cotton Thistle	„ eriophorus
Spear Thistle	„ lanceolatus

Marsh Plume Thistle	„ palustris	-	Damp or marsh meadows.
Meadow Plume Thistle	„ pratensis	-	Damp or marsh meadows.

Stemless Thistle	„ acaulis	-	Common to poor calcareous uplands.
Carline Thistle	Carlina vulgaris	-	Common to poor calcareous uplands.

Common Stinging Nettle	Urtica dioica	-	About the homestead, corners of fields, &c.
Smaller Stinging Nettle	„urens	-	About the homestead, corners of fields, &c.

Wall Barley	Hordeum murinum	-	About sandy soils, both in the meadow and arable.
4. [80]Poisonous Pasture-weeds, &c.
Meadow Saffron	Colchicum autumnale	-	Usual in calcareous soils or marls.

Upright Buttercup	Ranunculus acris	-	In damp meadows.

Diseased Grasses	Secale cornutum	-	In places where mist and damp prevail.
5. Ill-favoured Weeds or Plants which communicate bad flavour to Produce.
Crow Garlic	Allium vineale	-	More or less in meadows and corners of fields.
Hogs’ Garlic	„ ursinum	-	More or less in meadows and corners of fields.

Jack-by-the-Hedge	Erysimum Alliaria	-	About the hedgerow.
6. Useless Grasses, or Grass-like Plants.
Rough Grasses	Species	-	Poor land and wet places.

Sedges	Species	-	In boggy, marshy, or wet sandy spots.

Rushes	Species	-	In sandy spots on clays and poor soils.