472 BOTANICAL SURVEY OF DISMAL SWAMP REGION. 



In spring the truck lands, especially fields of strawberries, are often 

 badly infested with duckweed or winter grass {Alsine media). This 

 weed appears to be stimulated by the use of fertilizers, so that land 

 which has been in cultivation for some time is usually much more 

 badly infested than newly cleared land. Sheep sorrel (Rumex aceto- 

 sella), wart cress (Coronopus didymus), and little barley (Hordeum 

 pusillum) are very common and noxious weeds of truck fields in the 

 spring. Owingto the greater difficulty of eradicating them, these small 

 spring weeds are more abundant among strawberries than among other 

 truck crops. In summer nut grass (Cyperus rotund us) is sometimes a 

 bad weed, but it is not as common here as it is farther south. Near 

 Newbern it is considered the worst weed of the country, as it spreads 

 by means of its peculiar underground tubers, and is consequently 

 difficult to eradicate. Bermuda grass (Capriola (Cynodon) dactylon) 

 is also frequently a troublesome pest, as its creeping stems strike root 

 anywhere, and it is almost impossible to destroy it with a hoe. Owing 

 to the high cultivation practiced and the frequency with which one 

 crop is removed and another is put into the ground, truck lands are 

 not subject to being overrun by weeds as are fields of other crops, 

 especially corn. 



Corn fields, if the soil is thin and the crop is not well cultivated, are 

 apt to be invaded by woody plants, especially sassafras (Sassafras 

 sassafras), persimmon (Diospyros virgin iana), and sumach (Rhus 

 copaUina). In richer soils cockleburs (Xanthium strumarium) and 

 morning glories (Ipomoea purpurea and /. hederacea) are often bad 

 weeds among the corn. Corn fields that have been recently cleared 

 from the Dismal Swamp are much infested by the reed or cane (Arun- 

 dinar ia mac rasper ma), which spreads underground by means of its 

 strong, creeping rootstocks. Drainage 1 and cultivation for a few 

 years, however, will remove this pest. 



hi old fields which are more or less neglected or arc allowed to lie 

 fallow for a lime, certain chiefly native plants often become trouble- 

 some. If the land is rather low and badly drained, the showy yellow- 

 flowered butter weed (Senecio tomentosus) is very common in the 

 spring. In late summer and fall, large plants, chiefly of the sun- 

 flower and the grass families, are abundant. Dog fennel or hog- 

 weed (Eupatorium capillifolium), the white daisy (Aster ericoides), 

 ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiae folia), horse weed (he pi Hon (Erigercn) 

 canadense), crab grass (Syntherisma (Panicum) sanguinale), sprout- 

 ing crab grass (Panicum proliferurn), barnyard grass (Panicum crus- 

 galli), and yellow foxtail (Chaetochlou glauca) are the most important. 

 Land which is left to itself still longer is usually laken possession 

 of by the common broomsedge (Andropogon virginicus), and among 

 the tufts of this grass seedling pines often spring up in great 

 numbers. 



Fields of red clover are often badly infested in late spring and early 



