Q' 



88 



Rural School Leaflet. 



NATURE-STUDY SYLLABUS 



SOME COMMON AVEEDS AND HOW TO DESTROY THEM 



Paul J. White 



-SC"; V Wild carrot. — It is said that the wild carrot is 



/ *:^V^/^ the parent of our garden carrot. Pull up one 

 of these plants and smell it and you will under- 

 stand why. 



The gardener grows carrot seeds by setting 

 out in the spring carrots which were grown 

 the previous year. After producing seeds the 

 plants die. This is the habit of the wild carrots 

 also. They do not produce seeds the first year. 

 Consequently if they are cut off near the 

 ground two or three times the second year, 

 their life history is finished. 



Wild carrots do not spread from the roots 

 like the thistle but they produce a great 

 number of seeds. These seeds have been 

 known to live in the ground several years 

 before growing. Therefore, they must be 

 repeatedly pulled or cut off in order to keep 

 a field free from them. They are not trouble- 

 some in plowed land but are common in old 

 meadows. 



Canada thistle. — This weed is very common, 

 especially in pastures. It also occurs in plowed 

 land. It may be distinguished from other 

 thistles by the root. If one is dug up it will 

 be found to have heavy, roots, called root- 

 stocks, which extend some distance from 

 the plant, parallel with the surface of the 

 ground. These may be six to ten inches 

 below the surface. Every three or four inches 

 new plants grow up from these. One seed 

 in time may produce a large patch of these weeds from the roots alone. 

 The Canada thistle spreads into new fields by means of seeds. These 

 seeds may be sown with clovers, grasses, or even oats. Moreover, the 

 seed has at the top a feathery attachment which permits the seed to 



Fig. ^6. — Wild carrot 



