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grown it as an ornamental grass in her garden for many years, he writes me as 

 follows: "I believe that your friend has led you astray. My reasons for saying so are 

 that I have experimented upon the Chess question hero, and if Chess seed will grow 

 and produce Chess at Springfield it will not do so here. I sowed good Chess seed at 

 the same time I sowed fall wheat; it grew nicely, looked well in spring; but it never 

 headed out, and it had every possible chance. It is a bastard grain, and as such will 

 never produce seed." 



This gentleman, however, is trying again the present season, and at his request 

 I am also trying the same experiment with him ; 100 grains each of Chess and fall 

 wheat were sown last September and each grain is marked wjth asmall picket. One 

 quarter is to be trampled on in the spring, and one quarter to be eaten off; part was 

 uncovered and exposed to the frost during the winter and the growth of every plant 

 will be noted, and left standing where grown, to be examined by all visitors to the 

 Farm, where it will convince at any rate those who see it. And even if the inform- 

 ation gained has not much value in advancing the agriculture of the country, at 

 least it may prevent the waste of so much valuable time at farmers' institute meetings, 

 where this subject so frequently comes up for discussion. As a botanist, of course, 

 I know there can be only one result from this experiment; every grain of Chess 

 which grows will bear Chess and every grain of wheat will produce wheat. As an 

 experimenter 1 shall record the result exactly as it turns out, and shall not now 

 anticipate those results, but they will be published in the next report of the Botanist 

 to the Experimental Farms. There is only one remedy for Chess — to sow clean seed- 

 wheat in clean land. 



A knowledge of weeds and the best way to eradicate them is patently of 

 great benefit to farmers. I shall at all times be glad to identify specimens of 

 weeds or their seeds if sent to me at Ottawa. Valuable articles on this subject are 

 now appealing in the Farmer's Advocate by Prof. Panton, and it will well repay 

 every farmer in Canada to procure a copy of the small work by Profs. Mills and Shaw 

 of Gruelph, the "First Principles of Agriculture." The following taken from it I 

 endorse most heartily : " Weeds can be subdued, and if on any farm they are not 

 subdued, the farmer's own apathy or indolence is to blame for it. If weeds that 

 propagate themselves by their seeds (as all annuals and biennials) are prevented 

 from ripening their seed, they must in the end all die out. If those which propagate 

 themselves by their roots are kept from breathing the air by means of their leaves, 

 they also must perish. Hence, if immediately when harvest is over all grain ^elds 

 be gang ploughed once or twice, much is done towards destroying the weeds of a 

 farm. A reference collection of the seeds of all Canadian weeds has been begun and 

 will, I believe, be of interest to visitors to the Experimental Farm. 



