The Botanist's Companion Part 3

50. PLANTAGO lanceolata. RIB-GRa.s.s.--This is a perennial plant, and very usefully grown, either mixed with gra.s.ses or sometimes alone: it will thrive in any soil, and particularly in rocky situations. It is much grown on the hills in Wales, where by its roots spreading from stone to stone it is often found to prevent the soil from being washed off, and has been known to keep a large district fertile which would otherwise be only bare rock. Sheep are particularly fond of it. About four pounds sown with other seeds for pasture, will render a benefit in any situation that wants it. Twenty-four pounds is usually sown on an acre when intended for the sole crop, and sown under corn.

51. POTERIUM Sanguisorba. BURNET.--This plant grows in calcareous soils, and is in some places much esteemed. On the thin chalky soils near Alresford in Hampshire, I have observed it to thrive better than almost any other plant that is cultivated. Sheep are particularly fond of it; and I have heard it said that the flavour of the celebrated Lansdown mutton arises from the quant.i.ty of Burnet growing there. It is also the favourite food of deer. This will grow well in any soil, and there are few pastures without it but would be benefited by its introduction. Twenty-five pounds per acre are sown alone: eight pounds mixed with other seeds would be sufficient to give a good plant on the ground.

52. SANGUISORBA officinalis. GREAT CANADA BURNET.--Cattle will eat this when young; and it has been supposed to be a useful plant, but I do not think it equal to Burnet.

It is perennial, and is often found wild, but has not yet been cultivated.

53. TRIFOLIUM pratense. RED CLOVER.--This is a very old plant in cultivation, and perhaps, with little exception, one of the most useful.

It is very productive and nutritive, but soon exhausts the soil; and unless it is in particular places it presently is found to go off, which with the grazier is become a general complaint of all our cultivated Clovers. It is also well known, that if the crop is mown the plant is the sooner exhausted.

Seeds of Clover have the property of remaining long in the ground after it has become thus in a manner exhausted; and it frequently occurs that ashes being laid on will stimulate the land afresh, and cause the seeds to vegetate; which has given rise to the erroneous opinion with many persons, that ashes, and particularly soap ashes, will, when sown on land, produce Clover.

Red Clover is usually cultivated in stiff clays or loamy soils; and when sown alone, about sixteen or eighteen pounds of seed are used for the acre.

54. TRIFOLIUM medium. ZIGZAG, or MOUNTAIN-CLOVER.--Is in some degree like the preceeding; it produces a purple flower, and the foliage is much the same in appearance: but this is a much stronger perennial, and calculated from its creeping roots to last much longer in the land. It is equally useful as a food for cattle, and does not possess that dangerous quality of causing cattle to be hove, or blown, by eating it when fresh and green. This plant is, however, only to be met with in upland pastures, and there in its wild state; for it does not seed very abundantly, and is not in cultivation.

In the London seed-markets we often hear of a species of red Clover termed Cow-gra.s.s, and it generally sells for more money, and is said to differ in having the characters ascribed to it of this plant, namely, a hollow stem; the leaves more sharply pointed; the plant being a stronger perennial, and having the property of not causing the above-mentioned disorder to cows that eat of it. It is said to be cultivated in Hampshire, from whence I have often received the seeds which have been purchased purposely for the experiment; but on growing them, I never could discover these differences to exist. It is a circ.u.mstance worthy notice, that the very exact character of the Trifolium medium should thus be said to belong to the supposed variety of red Clover. I have endeavoured for the last twenty years to find out the true Cow-gra.s.s, and am of opinion that it has been from some cause mistaken for this plant.

The Trifolium medium is, at all events, a plant worth attention, and I think it might be easily brought into cultivation; for although it does not seed so abundantly as the T. pratense, I have observed it in places where a considerable quant.i.ty has been perfected, and where it might have been easily collected by gathering the capsules.

55. TRIFOLIUM repens. DUTCH CLOVER.--This is not so robust a plant as either of the former kinds, but it creeps on the ground and forms a fine bottom in all lands wherever it occurs, either cultivated or wild. This has not the property of blowing the cattle in so great a degree as the other sorts have. This disease is said to be accelerated by clover being eaten whilst the dew is on it: and when green clover is intended to be used as fodder, it is always best to mow it in the heat of the day, and let it lie till it is whithered, when it may be given to cows with safety.

Clover seeds of all kinds are necessary ingredients in laying down land to pasture; and the usual quant.i.ty is about twelve pounds per acre mixt in proportion at the option of the grower.

This kind remains longer in slight soils than the red does; but although both are perennial plants, they are apt to go off, for the reason pointed out under the head of T. pratense. This plant, as well as the T.

medium and other perennial kinds, is sometimes found in old pastures on loamy soils; and whenever this is the case, it is a certain indication of the goodness of the soil, and such as a judicious gardener would make choice of for potting his exotic plants in, as he may rest a.s.sured that the soil which will maintain clover for a succession of seasons will be fit loam for such purposes.

56. TRIFOLIUM proc.u.mbens. YELLOW SUCKLING.--An annual very like the Nonsuch; it is a very useful plant, seeding very freely in pastures and growing readily, by which means it is every year renewed, and affords a fine bite for sheep and cattle. I have now and then seen the seeds of this in the shops, but it is not common. There is a gentleman who cultivates this plant very successfully near Horsham, and who, I am informed, states it to be the best kind of Clover for that land. It grows very commonly amongst the herbage on Horsham Common, so that it is probably its native habitat. The seeds are the smallest of all the cultivated Clovers, and of course less in weight will be necessary for the land.

57. TRIFOLIUM ochroleuc.u.m. YELLOW CLOVER.--This is not a common plant, but it deserves the attention of the grazier. I believe it is not in cultivation. In the garden it stands well, and is a large plant. The herbage appears to be as good as that of any other kind of Clover, and it might, if introduced, be cultivated by similar means.

58. TRIFOLIUM agrarium. HOP TREFOIL.--This is also a good plant, but not in cultivation; it is eaten by cattle in its wild state, is a perennial, and certainly deserves a trial with such persons who may be inclined to make experiments with these plants.

Buffalo Clover is a kind similar to Trifolium agrarium and Trifolium repens, and appears to me to be a hybrid plant. This has been sometimes sent to this country from America, and is a larger plant than either. It has, however, as far as I have grown it, the same property of exhausting the soil as all the other species possess, and is soon found to go off: it is not in cultivation to any large extent.

59. VICIA Cracca. TUFTED VETCH.--Persons who have most noticed this plant have imagined it might be introduced into cultivation. It is hardy, durable, nutritious, and productive; but, like the Yellow Vetchling, the seeds do not readily vegetate; the only way to cultivate it, therefore, would be by planting out the roots; which might be done, as they are easily parted and are to be procured in great plenty in the places where it grows wild.

60. VICIA sativa. VETCHES, FETCH, or TARE.--A very useful and common plant, of which we have two varieties known to the farmer by the name of Spring and Winter Tares: they are both annuals. The spring variety is a more upright growing plant, and much tenderer than the other: it is usually sown in March and April, and affords in general fine summer fodder.

The Winter Tares are usually sown at the wheat seed-time, remain all winter, and are usually cut in the spring, generally six weeks before the spring crop comes in. The Winter Tares are now considered a crop worth attention by the farmers near London, who sow them, and sell the crop in small bundles in the spring at a very good price. Tares are usually sown broadcast, about three bushels and a half to the acre.

Persons should be careful in procuring the true variety for the winter sowing; for I have frequently known a crop fail altogether by sowing the Spring Tares, which is a more tender variety, at that season. It should be noticed that the seeds of both varieties are so much alike that the kinds are not to be distinguished; but the plants are easily known as soon as they begin to grow and form stems; the Spring kind having a very upright habit, and the Winter Tares trail on the ground. It is usual for persons wanting seeds of such to procure a sample; and by growing them in a hothouse, or forcing frame, they may soon be able to ascertain the kinds. Ellis in his Husbandry says, that if ewes are fed on Tares, the lambs they produce will invariably have red flesh.

61. VICIA sylvatica. WOOD VETCH.--A perennial plant growing in the shade; it seems to have all the good properties in general with the other sorts of Tares; but it is not in cultivation.

62. VICIA sepium. BUSH VETCH.--Is also a species much eaten by cattle in its wild state, but has not yet been cultivated: it nevertheless would be an acquisition if it could be got to grow in quant.i.ty.

So much having been said of the different kinds of Tares, perhaps some persons may be inclined to think that it would be superfluous to have more in cultivation than one or two sorts. To this I would beg leave to reply, that they do not all grow exactly in the same situations wild; and if they were cultivated, some one of them might be found to suit in certain lands better than others; and perhaps we never shall see our agriculture at the height of improvement, till by some public-spirited measure all those things shall be grown for the purposes of fair comparative experiment--an inst.i.tution much wanted in this country.

HINTS AS TO THE LAYING DOWN LAND TO PERMANENT PASTURE.

Having endeavoured to explain as nearly as possible the nature and uses of the plants which are likely to improve our meadows and pastures; I shall proceed to describe the best approved mode of sowing the land, on which depends, in a great measure, the future success of the husbandman's labour.

Under the head Lolium perenne I observed the practice of sowing clovers and that gra.s.s with a crop of barley or oats, which is intended as an intermediate crop for a season or two, and then the land to be again broken up and used for arable crops. And this is a common and useful practice; for although neither the Clover or Rye-gra.s.s will last long, yet both will be found to produce a good crop whilst the land will bear it, or until it is overpowered by the natural weeds of the ground [Footnote: It is not an uncommon opinion amongst farmers, that Rye-gra.s.s produces Couch; and this is not extraordinary; for, if the land is at all furnished with this weed, it receives great encouragement under this mode of culture.], which renders it necessary to the farmer to break it up.

I am aware of the difficulty of persuading persons (farmers in particular) to adopt any new systems; and I have often, when speaking of this subject amongst men of enlightened understandings, been told it would be next to madness, to sacrifice the benefit of a crop of oats or barley when the land is in fine tilth, and whilst we can grow gra.s.s seeds underneath it.

"To this I reply, that there is no land whatever, when left for a few months in a state of rest, but will produce naturally some kind of herbage, good and bad; and thus we find the industry of man excited, and the application of the hoe and the weeder continually among all our crops, this being essential to their welfare. I cannot help, therefore, observing how extremely absurd it is to endeavour to form clean and good pasturage under a crop hat gives as much protection to every noxious weed as to the young gra.s.s itself. Weeds are of two descriptions, and each requires a very different mode of extermination: thus, if annual, as the Charlock and Poppy, they will flower among the corn, and the seeds will ripen and drop before harvest, and be ready to vegetate as soon as the corn is removed; and if perennial, as Thistles, Docks, Couch-gra.s.s, and a long tribe of others in this way, well known to the farmer, they will be found to take such firm possession of the ground that they will not be got rid of without great trouble and expense.

"Although the crop of corn thus obtained is valuable, yet when a good and permanent meadow is wanted, and when all the strength of the land is required to nurture the young gra.s.s thus robbed and injured, the proprietor is often at considerable expense the second year for manure, which, taking into consideration the trouble and disadvantage attending it, more than counterbalances the profit of the corn crop.

"To accomplish fully the formation of permanent meadows, three things are necessary: namely to clean the land, to produce good and perfect seeds adapted to the nature of the soil, and to keep the crop clean by eradicating all the weeds, till the gra.s.ses have grown sufficiently to prevent the introduction of other plants. The first of these matters is known to every good farmer,--the second may be obtained,--and the third may be accomplished by practising the modes in which I have succeeded at a small comparative expense and trouble, and which is instanced in a meadow immediately fronting Brompton Crescent, the property of Angus Macdonald, Esq. which land was very greatly enc.u.mbered with noxious weeds of all kinds: but, by the following plan, the gra.s.ses were encouraged to grow up to the exclusion of all other plants; and though it has been laid down more than ten years, the pasturage is now at least equal to any in the county.

"Gra.s.s seeds may be sown with equal advantage both in spring and autumn.

The land above mentioned was sown in the latter end of August, and the seed made use of was one bushel of Meadow-fescue, and one of Meadow fox-tail-gra.s.s, with a mixture of fifteen pounds of white Clover and Trefoil per acre; the land was previously cleaned as far as possible with the plough and harrows, and the seeds sown and covered in the usual way. In the month of October following, a most prodigious crop of annual weeds of many kinds having grown up, were in bloom, and covered the ground and the sown gra.s.ses; the whole was then mowed and carried off the land, and by this management all the annual weeds were at once destroyed, as they do not spring again if cut down when in bloom. Thus, whilst the stalks and roots of the annual weeds were decaying, the sown gra.s.ses were getting strength during the fine weather, and what few perennial weeds were amongst them were pulled up by hand in their young state. The whole land was repeatedly rolled, to prevent the worms and frost from throwing the plants out of the ground; and in the following spring it was grazed till the latter end of March, when it was left for hay, and has ever since continued a good field of gra.s.s.