Chapter XXII

ON THE WEEDS OF CLOVERS.

That clover crops are often very full of weeds every farmer must be fully aware, but few among them have used sufficient penetration to have discovered the source of most of the weed growth, not only in clovers, but in other crops: how much, then, may they be expected to be astonished if told that they cultivate weeds by sowing their seeds as carefully as they do those of their crops, and that they pay the same price for weed as for crop seeds!

In the spring of 1859 we published the results of some analyses of the weed admixtures in several samples of different kinds of clover seeds, which we annex (table 1, p. 149), adding to them some further results obtained during the present spring, 1863, by way of comparison.

This presents a formidable array of figures, as it shows how much of more than mere harmless matter is purchased and sown instead of good seed; and the fact of the mischief likely to accrue from putting so many enemies in the place of friends will become all the more plain by a careful study of the next table (No. 2, p. 150).

Now, in order to make this part of our argument still more complete, we add another table (No. 3, p. 150), intending to show the number of weed plants absolutely separated from a single square yard of old seeds taken from a field on the great oolite rock.

1. TABLE OF WEEDS IN CLOVER SEEDS.

Date. Label. Number of Weeds per Bushel. Average.

1859 Red Clover 66,560 - 728,333

Ditto 140,880

Ditto 245,760

Ditto 307,200

Ditto 1,085,440

Ditto 5,524,160

Cow-grass Clover 40,960 - 401,066

Ditto 102,400

Ditto 307,200

Ditto 409,600

Ditto 768,000

Ditto 778,240

White Dutch Clover 256,000 - 2,768,106

Ditto 1,024,000

Ditto 1,299,840

Ditto 1,843,200

Ditto 4,505,600

Ditto 7,680,000

1863 Ditto 1,331,200 - 820,140

Ditto 819,200

Alsike Clover 1,976,080

Ditto 1,474,560

Red Clover 614,400

Ditto 266,240

Trefoil

Ditto 79,440

2. TABLE OF THE NUMBER OF WEEDS SOWN IN CLOVER SEEDS.

Weeds to a Pint. Pints to an Acre. Weeds to an Acre. Weeds to a Square Yard.

Broad Clover 7,840 × 13 = 100,920 21

Ditto 8,400 × 13 = 109,200 22

Cow-grass Clover 12,000 × 13 = 156,000 32

Ditto 6,400 × 13 = 83,200 17

White Dutch Clover 26,560 × 12 = 318,720 66

Ditto 70,400 × 12 = 844,800 174

3. TABLE OF WEEDS IN A SQUARE YARD OF SEEDS.

No. Botanical Name. Trivial Name. Number of Weed- plants.

1 Plantago lanceolata Narrow-leaved Plantain 7

2 Ranunculus repens Creeping Crowfoot 8

3 Centaurea scabiosa Hard Head 2

4 Leontodon taraxacum Dandelion 2

5 Apargia autumnalis Autumnal Hawkbit 1

6 Glechoma hederacea Ground Ivy 6

7 Prunella vulgaris Self Heal 4

8 Convolvulus arvensis Corn Bindweed 1

9 Æthusa cynapium Fool’s Parsley 1

10 Cerastium arvense Mouse-ear 2

11 Sherardia arvensis Field Madder 6

12 Triticum repens Common Couch 2

13 Agrostis stolonifera Creeping Bent 4

Total of weeds in a square yard besides annual grasses. 46

These three tables show us not only the fact that the farmer sows weeds with his crop, but, as will be seen from table 2, quite enough of these in some cases to stock the land,—how effectually, indeed, may be seen from table 3, where in arable land we find no less than forty-six plants other than the crop, and mostly of those species whose seeds will be traced in dirty samples. To further show that clovers and their mixtures with grasses called “seeds” have their own peculiar weeds, we subjoin one other table of the species of weeds observed in three kinds of seed crops as under:—

1. Old clover and common rye grass (second year).

2. “Old seeds,”—clover, trefoil, common and Italian rye grasses (second year).

3. New seeds, clover and rye grass (first year).

No. 1 examined on August 31; 2 and 3 on the 24th September, 1859.

4. TABLE OF WEED-PLANTS IN SEEDS.

The dashes (—) in three columns intimate the occurrence of the plants signified in the fields 1, 2, and 3 respectively.

No. Botanical Name. Trivial Name. Old. 1. Old. 2. New. 3.

1 Knautia arvensis Corn Scabious — .. ..

2 Centaurea Jacobea Hard Head — — —

3 „ nigra Black Head — .. ..

4 Achillea millefolium Milfoil — .. ..

5 Chrysanthemum leucanthemum Ox-eye — .. ..

6 Tussilago farfara Coltsfoot — .. ..

7 Gnaphalium Germanicum Cudweed — — —

8 Anthemis arvensis Corn Chamomile — .. ..

9 Bellis perennis Daisy .. — ..

10 Senecio vulgaris Groundsel — — —

11 Leontodon taraxacum Dandelion — — —

12 Apargia hispida Rough Hawkbit — .. ..

13 „ autumnalis Autumnal ditto — .. ..

14 Sonchus arvensis Corn Sowthistle — — —

15 Carduus arvensis Corn Thistle — — —

16 „lanceolatus Lancet-leaved Thistle .. — ..

17 „nutans Nodding or Musk Thistle — — —

18 „acanthoides Welted Thistle .. .. —

19 Arctium lappa Burdock — — ..

20 Sinapis arvensis Charlock .. — —

21 Sisymbrium officinale Treacle Mustard .. .. —

22 Rumex obtusifolius Round-leaved Dock — — ..

23 „ crispus Curled-leaf Dock — — —

24 Veronica serpyllifolia Thyme-leaved Speedwell — — ..

25 „ agrestis Field Speedwell .. — —

26 „ Buxbaumii Buxbaum’s ditto .. — —

27 Euphorbia exigua Petty Spurge — — —

28 Geum urbanum Common Avens — .. ..

29 Prunella vulgaris Self Heal — — —

30 Acinos vulgaris Bastard Thyme — — ..

31 Polygonum aviculare Knot Grass — — —

32 „ convolvulus Climbing Buckwheat .. .. —

33 Plantago media Broad-leaved Plantain — — —

34 „ lanceolata Lancet-leaved ditto — — —

35 Ranunculus repens Creeping Crowfoot — — —

36 Geranium molle Soft Cranesbill — — —

37 „ Columbinum Long-stalked ditto .. — ..

38 Galeopsis Ladanum Red Hemp Nettle .. .. —

39 Glechoma hederacea Ground Ivy — — ..

40 Stachys sylvatica Hedge Stachys — .. ..

41 Stellaria media Chickweed .. — —

42 Cerastium arvense Mouse-ear — — —

43 Arenaria serpyllifolia Thyme-leaved Sandwort — — —

44 Lychnis dioica White Campion .. .. —

45 Convolvulus arvensis Small Bindweed — — —

46 Urtica dioica Nettle — .. ..

47 Petroselinum segetum Corn Parsley — — ..

48 Torilis anthriscus Hedge Parsley .. .. —

49 „ nodosa Knotted Parsley — — ..

50 Anagallis arvensis Pimpernel — — —

51 Capsella Bursa-pastoris Shepherd’s Purse — — —

52 Sherardia arvensis Field Madder — — —

53 Chenopodium polyspermum Goosefoot — .. —

54 Potentilla anserina Silver Weed — .. ..

55 Bartsia odontites Red Bartsia .. — —

56 Linaria spuria Round-leaved Toad Flax .. .. —

57 „ elatine Fluellen ditto .. .. —

58 Myosotis arvensis Corn Forget-me-not .. .. —

59 Lamium amplexicaule Henbit .. .. —

60 Poa annua Annual Meadow-grass .. .. —

61 Agrostis stolonifera Creeping Bent — — ..

62 Bromus mollis Lop or Soft Brome-grass — .. ..

63 „„var. racemosus Lop or Smooth Brome-grass .. — ..

64 Triticum repens Couch — — ..

44 39 38

These three fields are situate on the Agricultural College Farm, the substrata of which are forest marble and great oolite, and 2 and 3 were absolutely adjoining each other. How different, then, are the species of wild plants in fields so close together, when out of a list of sixty-four species only twenty-four, or a little more than one-third, are common to all three of the fields examined; and yet we can safely affirm that the aboriginal flora of any three fields of the district would scarcely offer half a dozen species in the one field that could not be found in all; and, indeed, in a field that had lain fallow for several years not half of the present list would be found.

That these, then, have to a great extent been sown with the seed is quite certain; but what tends further to strengthen the argument is, that the Veronica Buxbaumii (Buxbaum’s Speedwell) and the Petroselinum segetum (Corn Parsley) are not native to the farm; and, indeed, it is doubtful whether very many of our agrarian weeds are true natives, as on examination many weeds will only be found in special crops, and these occur in the same crops all over the world wherever those crops can be cultivated. Our own country, then, has, doubtless, imported a large portion of her weed flora from abroad, just as we have traced in the United States, European (not American) plants, tracking the settlers from England, Ireland, and Scotland. It is thus that the European daisy (Bellis perennis) has got the name of the “White Man’s Foot.”

Seeing, then, that the clover seeds are so liable to be dirty, it becomes an important inquiry as to whether it is possible to get pure seed; and in reply to this query we should answer, from a long experience, that though one seldom sees pure clover seed, yet it sometimes falls in our way, or at least so pure that its weeds are reduced to a minimum. Such samples may be expected to be high-priced; but still, how much cheaper than a dirty article!—for, independently of having only the seed of the crop you wish to cultivate, you are saved the annoyance which must arise when a weed has taken root, in that then the clover cannot grow, and you ultimately see the ground occupied by a spreading noxious plant, or, this dying out, there will be a vacant spot,—in either case resulting in a loss of nutriment.

But, besides the more natural method of selling dirty seed from weedy patches, seedsmen are too apt to mix the seed of plantain (Plantago lanceolata) with that of clover; for, as the colours of the seeds are not unlike, and some people speak favourably of plantain as a sheep-feed, it is unblushingly mixed and sold with clover seed, though the plantain at most is only worth about half the price.

Where it occurs naturally amongst clovers, it may be separated to make a good sample, but only to be ultimately mixed again and sold to greenhorns with a cheap sample. We have had before us samples of clover containing plantain as under:—

5. TABLE OF PLANTAIN SEEDS IN CLOVER.

Plantain Seeds.

White Dutch Clover 1,024,000 - In an Imperial Bushel.

Red Clover 1,085,440

Ditto 1,568,000

Ditto 2,508,160

In the instance where we had estimated as many as 1,568,000 plantain seeds to a bushel of clover seed, the seedsman admitted that he had put it with the clover at the rate of one pound of plantain to eleven pounds of clover, under the impression that it was a desirable pasture plant. Now this we know is often done; but is it not always charged for as clover in cases where it is used for adulteration?

This matter, then, of dirty seed is clearly one of importance: it, however, only wants the farmer to become acquainted with the true form of clover seed to enable him to detect any admixture in this; and then, if he has this knowledge, so requisite for his well-doing, and steadily abstains from purchasing the nasty, however cheap, he will soon find that his seedsman will supply him with a genuine article, which, all things considered, will be even cheaper than the opposite.