60 



eiepend mainly on the broad-share cultivator. Buckwheat sowm ®n 

 summer-fallow and plowed under when coming into blossom, followed 

 bj surface cultivation with broad-share cultivator, will assist very 

 much in killing the weed. If necessary, the summer-fallow may be 

 followed by a hoed crop. 



Fig. 21. 



Dodder, Clover Dijdder, Devil's Gut, or Strangle Weed. 



Cuscuta epithymwni (Murr). 



Judging from the number of enquiries made about Dodder, we 

 fear that it is spreadiiig rapidly in the Province of Ontario. 



The seed takes root in the soil and puts forth a shoot which 

 winds around some living plant. Havin;,' a good start, the shoot dis- 

 connects itself from the earth and derives its nourishment from the 

 juices of the plant to which it clings. Drummond says : — " There are 

 certain plants — the Dodder for instance — which begin life with the 

 best intentions, strike true roots into the soil, and really appear as if 

 they meant to be independent for life. But after supporting them- 

 salves for a brief period, they fix curious sucking discs into the stem 

 (Fig. 21, (.S) ) and branches of adjacent plants, and, after a littie ex- 

 perimenting, finally cease to do anything for their own support,, 

 thenceforth drawing all their supplies ready made from the sap of 

 their host. In this parasitic state the Dodder has no need for organs 

 of nutrition of its own, and Nature therefore takes them away. 

 Henceforth, to the botanist, it presents the degraded spectacle of a 

 plant without a root, without a twig, without a leaf, and having a 

 stem so useless as to be inadequate to bear its own weight." 



The stems are very slender and red in color, curling around 

 ►clover or grass and completely choking it, as well as appropriating its 

 juices. It puts forth dense clusters of small whitish flowers, which are 

 succeeded by rounded pods full of seeds. The seeds are small, grey 

 or yellowish-brown, and round in shape. An average plant produces 

 about 2,500 seeds. There are numerous species of dodder, parasitic on 

 tJax, onions, and a variety of other herbs and small shrubs. 



Time of flowering, June-July. 



Time of seeding, July-September. 



Dispersal — often as an impurity in clover and lucerne seed. 



Eradication. Guard carefully against it in clover and other 

 seeds. Cut before ripening, as near the ground as possible, collect, 

 and burn ; and modify the rotation so as to leave clover out for a 

 time. 



