362 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



The CHAIR: New Business. It lather seems to me that that 

 should be taken up after the organization of the Board to-morrow. 



The SECRETARY: Yes; that would be better. 



The CHAIR: If there is no objection, we will let that order of 

 business lie over. 



The CHAIR: Miscellaneous Business. 



The SECRETARY: Mr. Chairman, I wish to say that we have had 

 two very excellent reports presented to this Board, and I have no 

 doubt that thoughts have suggested themselves to some of the mem- 

 bers that they would like to express in the way of general discus- 

 sion. These reports will be published and the discussions that 

 take place upon them will also be published, and they make very 

 valuable farm literature. I havn't any doubt that some very ex- 

 cellent things might be brought out and I hope that there may be 

 a general discussion of these two subjects. 



PROF. SURFACE : Mr. Chairman, I heartily agree with the Sec- 

 retary in his suggestion as to the value of these papers, and wish 

 to say that some things came to me while the report of the Botanist 

 was presented. The point I have to make is this, that in that ex- 

 cellent report of our Botanist, mention was made of a very objec- 

 tionable and pestiferous weed known variously as fire-weed, or the 

 paint-brush, and also sometimes called hawk-weed. It is not what 

 is properly known as hawk-weed. That is a different weed; but 

 this is also sometimes known as hawk-weed. Reports have reached 

 me that this weed grows so thickly that sheep can hardly get their 

 noses down to the ground between them and there are entire fields 

 that are being abandoned in certain sections in the southern coun- 

 ties of the State. 



It is a plant that has some of the characteristics of the dandelion; 

 the seeds are carried like dandelion seeds and they float out over 

 a field of woodland and work down into the soil, so that when a 

 fire sweeps over it, the seeds are not destroyed; they work down 

 into the soil in the process of germination, then they spring up, 

 and that is the way they are carried and spread over the fields 

 where they are not subject to the usual methods of destruction. I 

 know of no remedy for them except to keep them constantly cut off 

 so as not to permit their blooming or going to seed. It will demand 

 three or four cuttings a year for three or four years to keep them 

 down. 



Another weed that I have found starting generally over the 

 State which is very destructive, is the so-called horse-nettle or 

 Jerusalem cherry (Solanum carolinense). In Maryland that weed 

 is so abundant that entire farms have been forsaken because of 

 its presence there. It grows up to a height of a foot or a foot and 

 a half and it has a blossom similar to that of the potato plant. 

 It belongs to the same botanical family as the potato, tomato, night- 

 shade, tobacco, the ef^g plant, the jirason weed and a number of 

 others. It has a kind of branches on the stalk, branches and leaves 

 that are long, sharp and prickly, and no stock will eat it. Its fruit 



