come to maturity.

Meadows and pastures, especially where the land is not fertile, abound in weeds that require two years or more to produce seeds, such as narrow-leaved dock, bitter dock, bull thistle, carrot, teasel, two kinds of mulleins, night-flowering catchfly, evening primrose, several kinds of fleabane, ox-eye daisy, orange hawkweed, two or three kinds of plantain, Canada thistle, hound's tongue, stick seed, sow thistle, horse nettle, buttercups, toad flax, silvery cinquefoil, and many more, not excluding some annuals, like crab-grass, tickle grass, pigeon grasses. As crops of corn, potatoes, beans, turnips, beets and squashes are ready to harvest at the close of one growing season they are molested more or less by pigeon grasses, several pigweeds, purslane, crab-grass, barnyard grass, tickle grass and a number of others.

In 1897 some seventy-five lots of timothy seeds were examined and the following list of twenty-four species of weeds were found. Doubtless other weeds may still be found in other lots of timothy seed. No sample was entirely free from weeds. Pepper grass was most common, next followed tumble weed and then shepherd's purse:

• Amaranthus graecizans, Tumble weed.
• Amaranthus retroflexus, Rough pigweed.
• Anthemis Cotula, May weed.
• Brassica arvensis, Charlock. Brassica nigra, Black mustard.
• Bursa Bursa-pastoris, Shepherd's purse.
• Carduus arvensis, Canada thistle.
• Carex straminea. A kind of sedge.
• Chenopodium album, Pigweed.
• Chenopodium filicifolium, Another kind of pigweed.
• Lactuca Canadensis, Wild Lettuce.
• Lepidium Virginicum, Wild Pepper-grass.
• Onagra biennis, Evening primrose.
• Panicum capillare, Hair grass, tickle grass.
• Plantago lanceolata, Narrow-leaved plantain.
• Plantago Rugelii, Rugel's Plantain, one of the broad-leaved plantains.
• Poa compressa, Flat-stemmed poa, wire grass.
• Potentilla Monspeliensis, Rough cinquefoil.
• Prunella vulgaris, Self-heal.
• Rumex Acetocella, Field or sheep sorrel.
• Sisymbrium officinale, Hedge mustard.
• Verbena angustifolia, Narrow-leaved vervain.
• Verbena hastata, Blue vervain.
• Verbena urticifolia, White vervain.

In examining some 130 lots of clover seeds as found in the market during 1897, thirty-two kinds of weed seeds were found. Sheep sorrel was most common, next to this yellow or bitter dock and green foxtail. Only three samples of clover seed was free from weeds, but possibly some weeds might have been seen if larger quantities had been looked over.

During the year 1908, eleven years later, 47 kinds of weed seeds were found in 122 lots of seed of red clover, a gain of nearly 50 per cent.

During three months from January 1, 1910, in examining 450 lots of seeds of grasses, clovers and alfalfas, besides large numbers of common weeds that we know, were 74 kinds not known to the writer. Of these 74 kinds, probably some will never become weeds of any account. Some of these came with alfalfa from Montana and some were importations from Europe and elsewhere.

Parasitic fungi rank as weeds; such as rusts and smuts of wheat, oats, corn; apple scab, black knot of plum, brown rot of cherry, anthracnose of beans.

SOME MEANS FOR PREVENTING THE INTRODUCTION OF WEEDS AND A FEW RULES FOR THEIR EXTERMINATION.

1. The right kind of a man, who will carefully observe and study the kinds of weeds and their habits, fighting each to the best advantage, i. e. with method.

2. See that all seeds purchased or grown at home for seed are free from seeds of weeds. Although often heard, these words are too little heeded.

3. See that threshing machines, hay racks, grain bags from other farms are well cleaned before used on the farm.

4. Cook or grind screenings and burn chaff when certain weeds are suspected.

5. Send seeds to the Agricultural College, East Lansing, for identification, unless they are known to be harmless.

6. Strive to prevent weeds from ripening seeds. This is especially important late in the season in case of all pigweeds, purslane and others where the flowers are very small and are liable to be overlooked and the seeds ripen before their presence is suspected.

7. For meadow or pasture make the soil very fertile, as most weeds will then be killed or crowded by the better grass and become of little account.

8. Modify the rotation of crops with reference to killing the weeds.

9. Make a specialty of hoed or cultivated crops.

10. Make soiling crops a prominent feature in certain fields.

11. Smother weeds with quick growing and thickly seeded crops, like red clover or rye or buckwheat.

12. Keep some crops growing on the land from early spring till late autumn,—double cropping, i. e., two cultivated crops in one year for barn and cellar instead of one for use and one of weeds.

13. Cultivate thoroughly after a crop is removed.

14. Clean up and avoid leaving any vacant or out of the way places for breeding ground.

15. Where practicable, remove fences and cultivate to the gutters of the highway.

16. Keep some sheep.

17. When once begun, continue the work thoroughly from year to year, giving no quarter to weeds. This is the easiest in the long run and the royal way.

18. Where hand labor is employed, it is far less expensive and much easier to keep weeds down by raking or hoeing once a week than by going over the ground much less frequently.

The habits of a weed determine to a great extent the best mode of fighting it. Certain remedies suggest themselves for creeping perennials, like quack grass and toad flax, while different treatment is best for narrow-leaved dock; and still a different mode of attack may be adopted for crab grass and purslane.

Weeds are annuals, as pigweeds, crab grass, purslane; biennials as bull thistle and mulleins; perennials, like quack grass, Canada thistle, ox-eye Daisy.

Will it pay? The annual cost of successfully fighting a weedy farm of 100 acres in Ontario has been found to be about $75. Good cultivation in the long run pays a greater profit than slipshod culture. It not only kills the weeds, but keeps the soil in condition for securing good crops. It conserves moisture.

Perennial plants cannot gain any if the green leaves are not allowed to appear. The nourishment stored in the root stocks underground will aid the plant to send up slender leaves and if these remain, the plants gain and recruit, but if the leaves start underground and are cut off before coming to the light, these root stocks are drawn on again to furnish food to start more leaves and thus, in time become exhausted.

SEEDS OF MICHIGAN WEEDS.

ASCOMYCETES.

Fig 1. Ergot. Claviceps purpurea.

Ergot. Claviceps purpurea. This is a poisonous fungus, not a seed, mentioned here because it is frequently found as an outgrowth of the grain of many grasses, such as rye, timothy, red top. To mature spores, it must pass to another stage requiring six months or more.

GRASS FAMILY. GRAMINEAE.

Fig 2. Quack-Grass. Couch-Grass. Agropyron repens (L.) Beauv.

Quack-Grass.