192 EXPERIMENTAL FARMS. 



As to the fodder value of these grasses, we have made no experiments ; but the 

 following extracts bear on this point: — 



" Psamma arenaria. — This grass seems to be indestructible by drift sand, and 

 authorities differ as to whether it is eaten by stock ; but the park ranger at Port 

 Fairy says they eat it ravenously in winter and thrive well upon it." (^Report of 

 Agric. Bureau of South Australia for 1892, p. 12.) 



" Elymus arenarius. — Sinclair calls this grass the sugar-cane of Great Britain. It 

 contains a large quantity of saccharine matter, and it is probable that, mixed with 

 beach grass, as it is in Holland, it would be valuable to cut up and mix with com- 

 mon hay for winter feed." (C.L.Flint. Grasses and Forage Plants, p. 120.) 



« 



TUMBLE WEEDS. 



Tumble Mustard (Sisymbrium sinapistrum, Crantz). 



This new pest in the ISTorth-west Territories is still very abundant about Indian 

 Head, notwithstanding the efforts which have been made by Mr. Mackay and others 

 to eradicate it. Mr. Mackay writes from Indian Head under date Nov. 14: — 

 " We were almost buried yesterday with a neighbour's tumble weed. A hurricane 

 blew all day from the North-west, and the edge of a field adjoining the farm is now 

 10 feet deep with this weed. The trees are full and fences cannot be seen for bank 

 of weeds. The result of yesterday's blow will be to give us many extra days' work 

 next summer, for millions of seeds have been left on the farm. Looking between here 

 and the town while the weeds were galloping along, the prairie seemed like the ocean 

 with a big storm blowing." It is needless to say that every effort should be put 

 forth now to eradicate this annual weed, as it is evidently one of the very worst pests 

 which has ever been introduced into the country. The name " Tumble Mustai-d," pro- 

 posed by Prof W. M. Hays of the Minnesota Agricultural Experiment station, is, I 

 think, particularly appropriate for this pest, for, as he says, " it draws attention to 

 the important fact that the weed combines the spreading power of a 'tumbler' with 

 the longevity of seeds of a mustard." The weed which more than any other has 

 always been known as Tumble weed in the west is Amarantus albus, L. 



The Russian Thistle, Eussian Tumble Weed (Salsola Kali, L., var. Tragus, DC.) 



This plant which has attracted so much attention in the United States, has 

 not yet been found in Canada ; but it is well to warn our farmers to take every pre- 

 caution against its introduction. The United States Government has issued a timely 

 bulletin by Mr. L. H. Dewey, Assistant Botanist of the United States Department 

 of Agriculture, illustrated by figures of the plant in different stages, and of the seed 

 enlarged. The Farmer's Advocate, of London, Ont., has wisely published a warning 

 article to Canadian farmers, giving quotations of the above, and reproductions of 

 the figures. The publishers have kindly lent me the figures used in that article 

 for this notice. 



These will serve to draw attention to the plant and show those who 

 have not seen the above articles, .what its appearance is. It is not a true 

 thistle, but is a variety of the European Salt-wort, and is related to the lamb's quar- 

 ters and spinach. It takes its name " thistle " from the fact that, as the seeds ripen, 

 the stems develop at each joint instead of leaves three sharp spines. The spines are 

 described as harder than, and as sharp as, those of the Canada thistle, so that 

 farmers have to wrap leather round their horses' legs when cutting grain infested 

 by it. It is an annual, and has been introduced for fifteen years. It has now 

 spread over an area of 30,000 square miles, and is abundant and troublesome 

 over two-thirds of that area. Mr. Dewey says in his bulletin: "In the badly 

 infested areas more than 940,000 acres are devoted to wheat raising. The average 

 loss on this land, which may be attributed to the Eussian Thistle alone cannot be 



