BULLETIN 168.] [OCTOBER, 1908. 



Ontario Department of Agriculture. 



ONTARIO AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE. 



The Perennial Sow Thistle and some other 



Weed Pests of I 908. new y< 



BOTANI 



By J. Eaton Howitt, M.S. A., Demonstrator in Botany. 



FOREWORD. 



The discussion of the Weed Pests of 1908 is a matter of emphatic 

 concern. Through investigation, wide correspondence, and the reports 

 of visitors and Farmers' Institute workers, it becomes more and more 

 apparent to the Department of Botany that the Province of Ontario, at 

 large, is sorely menaced in its agricultural industry by the spreading of 

 noxious weeds. They are usurping our fields and greatly increasing the 

 cost of producing crops. In the majority of cases, they attain a foot- 

 hold before they are recognized and combatted. Very often they secure 

 entrance into clean land through the use of seed whose impurities are not 

 known. Ignorance of weeds, like all other ignorance, is costly. They 

 are an enemy that is fought better by fore-knowledge than after-skill. 

 Every farmer should be warned and prepared to resist their entrance or 

 their first sign of attack. 



Recently in the Province of Nova S'cotia when it was found that an 

 influx of the Brown Tail Moth, that has caused much damage in the New 

 England S'tates, was imminent, the pupils in the schools were organized 

 into a first line of defence. To resist the attack of weeds there is need 

 for similar organized precaution throughout the country ; not only through 

 the scholars in the schools but by everyone concerned. 



Mr. Howitt has been giving special attention to this weed problem. 

 The following pages will be found timely and suggestive. The weed 

 pest of 1908 for one man becomes the weed pest of 1909 and succeeding 

 years for a widening circle of sufferers. 



S'. B. McCREADY. 

 Botanical Department, Ontario Agricultural College, 

 October, 1908. 



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