Sf 
The docks are largely employed for purifying the blood and as a 
remedy in skin diseases. 
Imports and prices——Rumex or dock roots are imported into this 
country to the extent of about 125,000 pounds annually. The price 
ranges from 2 to 8 cents per pound. 
COUCH GRASS. 
Agropyron repens (L.) Beauv. (Triticum repens L.) 
Other common names.—Dog-grass, quick-grass, quack-grass, quitch- 
grass, scutch-grass, twitch-grass, witch-grass, wheat-grass, Chand- 
ler’s grass, creeping wheat-grass, 
devil’s-grass, durfa-grass, Dur- 
fee-crass, Dutch-grass, fF in’s 
grass, quake-grass. (Fig. 9.) 
Range and habitat—Couch 
grass, like so many other perni- 
cious weeds, was introduced into ; 
this country from Europe, and is 
now a most troublesome pest in 
cultivated ground, causing the 
farmer a loss of thous sands of 
dollars annually by taking pos- 
session of fields and crowding out 
valuable crops. Itis most abun- 
dant from Maine to Maryland, 
and westward to Minnesota and 
Missouri, but is rather sparingly 
distributed in the South. It is 
gaining ground on farms on the 
Pacific slope. 
Description.—This rather coarse 
grass produces several stems, 1 to 
8 feet high, from a long, creep- 
ing, jointed rootstock, ard bears 
densely flowered spike-like heads 
resembling those of rye or beard- 
less wheat. Thestemsare round, te. 9,—Couch grass (Agropyron repens (L.) Beauv.). 
smooth, thickened at the joints, 
and hollow, bearing from five to seven leaves. These have a long 
cleft sheath, and are rough on the upper surface. The,heads or spikes 
are terminal, solitary, compressed, with two rows of apie ona = 
wavy and flattened axis. ae 
Couch grass is one of the ‘most difficult weeds to. edict, om ae 
82195°—Bull. 188—17-——3 
