THE HAWKWEEDS. 



W. M. MUNSON. 



The wide distribution of the Orange Hawkweed {Hier actum 

 aurantiacum) throughout the State has been the subject of 

 frequent comment in previous reports of the Experiment 

 Station.* As yet, however, no effective legislative measures 

 have been adopted for the check of this or other noxious weeds, 

 and its importance demands continued attention. A man is, 

 to a large extent, at the mercy of his neighbors in the matter 

 of spreading weeds. While we have laws looking toward the 

 control of the seed offered for sale, little attention is given to 

 the weedy roadsides and waste lands in proximity .to our best 

 cultivated fields. The character of the seed sown is of as much 

 importance as the character and composition of the fertilizer 

 used ; but it is not enough that the field be free from weeds at 

 the time of sowing or that the grain or grass seed used show a 

 high per cent of purity. This freedom from noxious weeds must 

 be maintained by destroying the sources of infection found, as 

 already noted, in neighboring fields and roadsides. 



Orange Hawkweed is a native of Europe and has been 

 recorded in this state as a weed, only about fifteen years. It is 

 advertised by some seedsmen as a desirable ornamental plant, 

 and as such it was introduced into this region, and probably to 

 many others. Only a few" weeks ago the writer found it on 

 sale in a large store at one of the leading summer resorts of 

 the State. From the fact that the plant is a perennial, develop- 

 ing runners and root stocks, and that it produces seed very 

 freely, it is a very difficult weed to control. As illustrating its 

 tenacity of life, flower heads which were scarcely in full bloom 

 were picked by the writer and left upon the office table to dry. 

 After a time the seeds from these heads were sown in pots in 



*Cf. Kept. Me. Exp. Sta. 1892, 106; 1893, 146; 1897, 13. 



