WEEDS OF MAINE. 261 



59. Ox-Ete Daisy. White-weed — Leucanthemum vulgare. Root branched, tough, 

 and woody, with many fibres, perennial. Stem one two two feet high, often several 

 stalks from the same root. Flowers in large, showy heads. Rays white. Disk flowers 

 yellow. 



This almost omnipresent weed was quite rare thirty years ago. 

 " It is a positive injury to any soil, and any location. The richer 

 the land the less apparent damage ; while a farm that is naturally 

 cold and poor is decreased in value by its presence and growth 

 at least twenty per cent J' " Dried daisies for fodder are about as 

 nutritious as an equal quantity of fine brush. Pity the sorrows of 

 the poor animal that is compelled to subsist on daisy hay !" — 

 {Todd.) "The seeds are very tenacious of life, and will germin- 

 ate after passing through the stomach of an animal. Various 

 means have been suggested for destroying it, one of which is to 

 feed it down by sheep. But this is never to be recommended, as 

 the sheep will grow poor upon it, and more will thus be lost than 

 will be gained by ridding pastures and fields of the weed. Thor- 

 ough cultivation is the only thing that will completely eradicate 

 it, which can be given as follows : The first year plow the sod 

 thoroughly, plant with corn, hoe and cultivate well once a week. 

 The next year sow and plow in two crops of buckwheat, and on 

 the third year manure well and plant corn again, then again two 

 crops of buckwheat for two years more. This will completely 

 exterminate the daisies, and the land will be left in excellent con. 

 dition." — {3fr. S. L. Boai^dman.) The number of seeds which a 

 single root of the ox-eye produces is immense. In one head over 

 four hundred seeds have actually been counted. There are from 

 fifty to four or five hundred heads from one root. Estimating the 

 number of seeds in a head to be two hundred, and the number of 

 heads to a plant to be seventy-five, we have fifteen thousand seeds 

 as the product of a single root. These, as well as the seeds of 

 many other pernicious intruders, are often introduced into one's 

 fields in the grass seed. It is therefore quite important that far- 

 mers should be able to tell foul seed, and thus avoid much trouble. 

 " The white daisy has a seed considerably larger than timothy 

 seed, shaped somewhat like the seed of a carrot, but smooth and 

 destitute of fuzz. Its color is light drab and brown, in parallel 

 stripes, running from one end of the seed to the other. When 

 once known it is easily detected." — {J. J. Thomas.) 



60. Common Tansey — Tanacetum vulgare. A coarse, ill-smelling 

 plant, too well known to need describing. Partially naturalized 



