WEEDS OF MAINE. 287 



at short intervals new plants. The fruit of the common black- 

 berry is delicious, yet it would be better to cultivate some of the 

 more valuable varieties, which produce much finer berries, and 

 destroy the wild plants. 



5. "Wild Red Raspberry — Ruhus strigosus. Produces red ber- 

 ries, which " are in the market" a few weeks earlier than those of 

 the blackberry. As a weed, it has a similar character to the pre- 

 ceding plant, though may be not so troublesome, nor so difficult 

 to eradicate. 



6. Dewberry — Running Brier — Low Blackberry — JRubus Cana- 

 densis. "There is scarcely a farmer's boy in Pennsylvania who 

 is not well acquainted with our plant from having encountered its 

 prickly, trailing stems with his naked ankles while heedlessly 

 traversing the old fields where it abounds." — (Darlington.) If 

 Dr. Darlington had said Maine, instead of Pennsylvania, his state- 

 ment would have been just as true. If the land were properly 

 cultivated this plant would soon disappear. 



*r. Sambucus — Common Elderbush — Sambucus Canadensis. This 

 shrub is often quite troublesome along fences, &c. It spreads 

 rapidly, and is very tenacious of life. The plant is well known in 

 domestic medicine. " If the bushes are cut early in the summer, 

 and the brush burned upon the stubs, and then all the sprouts 

 pulled up the moment they appear, the roots will soon perish." 



8. Sheep Laurel — Lambkill — Dwarf Laurel — Kalmia angusti- 

 folia. A native evergreen shrub, frequent on rocky hills and 



pastures, growing to the height of tw*o to three feet. In June it 

 bears a profusion of bright crimson flowers. It can hardly be con- 

 sidered a troublesome plant, but from the fact that it is supposed 

 to be poisonous to sheep we decided to notice it. Two of the 

 popular names —Lambkill and Sheep Laurel — have arisen from the 

 general impression that it possesses deleterious properties. That 

 this plant has ever been injurious to stock has been doubted by 

 good authority. It may be destroyed in the same manner as the 

 common elderbush. 



9. Common Alder — Alnus incana and serrulafa. Along brooks 

 and streams and around ponds this shrub is most abundant. It is 

 a worthless plant, and its prevalence is a sufficient indication of a 

 slovenly farmer. "If cut closely during the last half of the sum- 

 mer for two or three seasons, they are destroyed." 



