226 EXPERIMENTAL FARMS. 



on this one farm, and has been there for six or seven years. I send you seeds, young 

 plants just starting and full grown specimens, all collected together." This plant is a 

 slender branching annual with grayish green succulent leaves, on the stem oblong oval in 

 shape and clasping at the base : the root leaves are spatulate, more elongated and not 

 clasping at base. The flowers are small, of a creamy white, and borne at the tips of the 

 branches ; they are followed by square pods sometimes three inches in length, containing 

 rather large blackish seeds. From what we know of this plant, there is every indica- 

 tion that it may develop into a troublesome weed, and it requires to be watched. This 

 remark also applies to two other members of the Mustard family, which are every year 

 becoming more abundant, Neslia paniculata, Desv., and False flax (Camelina saliva, 

 Crantz). The name given in English books for this weed is " Hare's Ear Mustard," 



Perennial Sowthistle, Field Sow-thistle (Sonchus arvensis, L.). There are, I 

 believe, in the older portions of Canada few noxious plants which are spreading more 

 rapidly and doing more harm than the Perennial Sow-thistle. It is alarmingly abundant 

 through the province of Quebec and throughout the Maritime Provinces. It is a perennial 

 with strong underground stems, which spread out a long distance from the centre. The 

 leaves cover the ground closely and choke out the crop among which the plant grows. 

 The flowering stems, about three feet in height, have no leaves towards the top, where 

 they bear three or four large yellow flowers, which are conspicuously glandular hairy 

 outside and on the footstalks. The seeds are provided with a copious pappus of pure 

 white silky down, by means of which they are blown long distances. At the time the 

 small grains are in flower or a little later, this plant is easily detected in a crop, from the 

 flowers generally standing up a few inches above the grain. As soon as the conspicuous 

 flowers are seen, every stem as well as the rosette like tuft of leaves around the base of 

 the main stem, should be pulled. This can easily be done at this season, and as soon as 

 the crop is harvested, the stubble should be ploughed. I am informed by Prof. E. A. 

 Barnard, of Quebec, that in some places this plant is so abundant as to have acquired 

 the name of Creves-yeux (Hard on the eyes) from the necessity of covering the face 

 with a veil when threshing grain to keep the particles of down out of the eyes. "When 

 this plant is once noticed in a piece of land, every effort should be made to eradicate it, 

 and this requires the greatest care and perseverance. 



