It very frequently happens, in neglected residences, where there is only pasture sufficient to keep one or two cows, that the grass has become deteriorated in quality, in consequence of its being mixed with many of the grosser weeds, such as docks, thistles, crowfoot, etc.; and with the coarser grasses, such as carexes, cock's-foot, Avena elatior, etc. A pasture in this state will not be productive of one-half, or even one-third, of the quantity of milk and butter which it ought to yield; and, though we have no doubt the fact will be doubted by many, yet we can assert, from our own knowledge, that this is the case with the pastures of one-half the villa residences in the neighbourhood of London. The reason is, that persons who have not an intimate knowledge of country affairs are not aware that there are different qualities of grasses, and think that one green field, which can be mown for hay, is just as good as another. They are not aware that grasses may, and indeed should, be cultivated like any other plant; and that there are many kinds of grasses, even in our best pasture fields, which can only be considered as weeds, and which ought to be eradicated.

The kinds of these weed-like grasses are different in different soils, and their number increases in proportion as the soil is neglected. Every grass field contains several different species of grass, some of which are deserving of culture, and others are mere weeds; and, in proportion as the field is kept in "good heart" and properly managed, or neglected and impoverished, will the one kind or the other acquire the ascendency. To the superficial observer, however, all grass-fields are alike; and, hence, the same routine, as far as respects management, is applied, whatever may be the nature of the soil, and whether the prevailing grasses be wholesome or injurious. The field is shut up in April, in order to produce a crop of hay; and when this is. removed in July or August, the cows are turned in every day, except in the most severe weather, till the return of the shutting-up season. Not to speak of the neglect of draining and manuring, a positive evil resulting from turning the cows out on a clayey undrained soil during winter is, that the ground gets poached, in consequence of which weeds and bad grasses, such as thistles, docks, crowfoot, carexes, oat-grass, brome-grass, etc, make their appearance; and, by degrees, choke the clovers and good grasses, such as white clover, ryegrass, fescue, etc.

Among the weeds, one of the most abundant is the common meadow crowfoot, or yellow buttercup (Ranunculus acris L.), remarkable for its acrid juice, which, it is alleged, blisters the mouths and stomachs of cows, and injures the quality of their milk and butter. To say nothing of its injurious effects, the proportionate space which this weed occupies in green herbage or in hay is a sufficient reason for wishing to get rid of it; though, from its abundance, not only in bad soils, but in good soils which have been neglected or mismanaged, this is a work requiring some time, and depending on some knowledge of the nature of plants. The crowfoot, as the name Ranunculus (from rana, a frog, alluding to the moist places where most of the species grow) implies, naturally loves moist soil, which rye-grass and the other good grasses as naturally dislike. Hence, the first process to get rid of the crowfoot is thorough under-draining by shallow drains, which need not be, in general, more than 1 ft. 6 in. deep, and placed not farther apart than from 8 ft. to 15 ft.

The next thing is to apply manure liberally; and the third (without which success would not be complete) is, to pasture the surface at least till the beginning of July, with sheep, if not with cows or horses, before shutting it up to be mown for hay. When the pasture is shut up for mowing, in April or the beginning of May, the leaves and flower-stems of the crowfoot shoot up uninjured along with the grass; and thus the roots of the crowfoot are nourished and invigorated for the following season: but, on the other hand, when the surface is pastured till the beginning of July, the leaves and flower-stems of the crowfoot are cropped by the pasturing animals; the root is weakened in consequence of not deriving as much nourishment from the leaves as it otherwise would do; and, as the crowfoot is one of those plants that scarcely produce any leaves after midsummer, it is in a great measure suffocated by the growth of the grasses in August and September. If this course be pursued for three years in succession with a field overrun with crowfoot (draining and manuring having been properly attended to the first season), the number of these weeds will be found to have greatly diminished, and the clover and good grasses to have increased.

To increase the number of the latter plants, some white clover and rye-grass seeds may be scattered over the surface the first year, early in spring. It may be thought that the eating down of the herbage in the beginning of summer, instead of shutting it up for mowing, while it destroys the crowfoot, would also have a tendency to destroy the clover. This will, no doubt, be the case to a certain extent; but the clover has the advantage of being a much more vivacious plant, it having creeping stems, which throw up numerous leaves, and continue growing the whole summer. The meadow crowfoot, on the other hand, is a stationary plant, which increases but slowly except by seed, which throws up only one set of leaves in spring, and which does not renew these in the course of the season. Even the creeping crowfoot, which, however, is more commonly found in arable fields than in meadows, throws up but few leaves when compared with the clover; and is much more easily choked or killed by cropping these leaves early in the season.