1094 



Rural School Leaflet, 



are cut with the grass at haymaking time, and cured into hay. If cut 

 before they are too old and tough, they are eaten by cattle and appar- 

 ently relished. In pastures, sheep and even cows will eat daisies, 

 although they prefer grass and clover. 



Grass and clover seed used on the farm often 

 contains seeds of the daisy. The use of weedy 

 farm seeds is largely responsible for the spread 

 of bad weeds. Good seeds cost a little more, but 

 they are always safer to use. If a field once be- 

 comes filled with daisies, the only cure is to plow 

 the land and grow a cultivated crop like corn or 

 potatoes for one or two years. 



Shepherd's purse. — This plant gets its name 

 from the peculiar shape of the seed pods. It is a 

 winter annual, that is to say a plant which 

 begins to grow in the autumn and lives over 

 winter, after the manner of winter wheat. On 

 account of this habit it is one of the first plants 

 to flower in the spring. However, not all the 

 plants start in the fall. Many of them begin 

 their growth in the spring or early summer and 

 live until autumn. 



Shepherd's purse is found growing under all sorts 

 of conditions, although it seldom causes any seri- 

 ous trouble. The chief difficulty arises when it 

 gets started in the lawn or other grass land where 

 the grass is too thin. 



It will grow during warm days in winter and 

 in early spring may take the place of useful 

 plants. 



The seeds are very small and are produced in great numbers. They 



are found in all kinds of small farm seeds and are often sown with them. 



The weed is very easily destroyed. It will not live in cultivated 



land. In the lawn or along walks it may be killed with a sharp hoe 



or other tool. It will readily die if cut off below the leaves. 



Fig. 



4 2 , — Shepherd 's 

 purse 



" Winba arp aJJurrtiepmentfl of all tijpii lourI|, liowrurr murlj or littlr tur 

 may bp abU to r?aii tlyrm; Uiim^ ti\nx mmhninQB hg ttjeir arrnta alonr/' 



— John Muir 



