270 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



OBJECT OF THIS BULLETIN. 



This bulletin is not intended as a full text concerning weeds and 

 remedies for disposing of them ; the chief object is to furnish illustrations 

 that will aid students in school and college, and farmers out of school 

 to recognize some of the more striking weeds. 



The descriptions are purposely short and mostly popular. The botan- 

 ist will not need the text, but will consult a reliable text book such as 

 Gray's Manual of Botany, 7th Edition. The person not trained in botany 

 will get little from the text. In case of the ''pictures/' in many cases 

 (hey will not be very satisfactory- to the uninitiated. 



I hope that bulletin No. 260 and the present one will induce a few 

 farmers at least to adopt better methods. 



While I cannot predict what new weeds may be introduced, thrive and 

 spread in Michigan, I have included several not yet prominent because 

 of their bad record in near-by regions. 



No person can know better than I do the very rapid increase in the 

 number of weeds on Michigan farms. As a rule each farm is annually 

 getting more sorts of weeds and as each farmer is cultivating weeds, 

 these are becoming more freely distributed in every field and along 

 every roadside. 



EXPERIENCE OP THE GERMANS AND ENGLISH. 



What has been the experience of older countries, such as Germany 

 and Great Britain? Previous to 18G0, it was a very common practice to 

 mix old seeds with new of the same variety. The old seeds will not 

 grow, or most generally if they do grow they produce inferior plants. 

 Another common practice is to kill seeds of charlock by boiling or bak- 

 ing, then assort the seeds into two sizes by means of a sieve. The 

 larger seeds were used to mix with rutabagas, the smaller with turnip 

 seeds. In such cases all the seeds which grow are good, but the purchaser 

 is deceived in the quantity he buys and in the amount of which he sows 

 on a given space. Old seeds, or seeds of another variety, were often 

 dyed and used to adulterate good seeds of red clover and other species. 

 Sulphur-smoking is often resorted to, to renovate the appearance of 

 worthless old grass seed. Some seeds are dressed with oil for a similar 

 purpose. There were many experts in the business who carried on a 

 regular exchange in doctored seeds. 



In a case in Germany, 59 per cent of seeds corresponded to the labels 

 under which the articles were sold, and only 18.3 per cent were capable 

 of germination. A sample of orchard grass contained 39 other species 

 of seeds. In a sample sold for Meadow Foxtail, only one-half the seeds 

 were of this species, and of the genuine seeds only 5 per cent were alive 

 and capable of germinating, so that 100 lbs. of the seeds as sold furnished 

 50 lbs. of inferior, worthless, or injurious foreign seeds and only 2^ 



