116 AGKICULTURAL REPORT. 



prairies and secmad bottoms, tliat, (the "last ploughing" being over, and the 

 crop " laid by,") liow often the isolated stalks of maize are surrounded and 

 intertwined and choked with dense masses of weeds, not merely impeding 

 locomotion through the cornfield and covering the rash interloper with adhering 

 seedr and insinuating burs, but absolutely, iu many cases, barring all progress 

 through the field. lIow many fields there are in which weeds obtain as much 

 of nutriment from the soil as is drawn by the legitimate crop! llow many 

 bushels of seeds of weeds are ofttimcs produced per acre! The prolificacy of 

 these freebooters of the farm is tistnnishing ; the red poppy will ripen 50,000 

 seeds, the wild mustard 8,000, and the common corn cockle 2,500. Is it 

 strange, with so foul a style of farming as obtains in this country, that weeds 

 should abound, that wheat will cot average fifteen bushels per acre, and corn 

 is only half as productive as it should be? Even if the farm fields are kept 

 comparatively clean, as a few prompt and persevering farmers do keep them,- 

 there are roadsides, and manure heaps, and fence corners that furnish a libera] 

 supply of seeds, while tlie free Avinds are busy and successful in sowing them. 

 If a damage to corn and wheat fields, weeds are still worse in garden products, 

 and utterly incompatible with flax culture in any degree. And this, which 

 should be an inducement to grow flax if but to extirpate the weeds, is probably 

 a prominent reason w-hy it has been so little cultivated. The task is too her- 

 culean for the industry and perseverance of many farmers, when natural disin- 

 clination is abetted by the high price of labor. The flaxseed that comes from 

 abroad is very "dirty," having a large per-centage of seeds of noxious weeds 

 which have crept in through the slovenly culture of the Russians, and their 

 imperfect means of separating seeds. Common among the weeds found with 

 flax are the small and great "bindweed," respectively, Coniohnlus arrmsis 

 and C. scjnum. It is of a twining habit, its roots penetrating deeply and 

 spreading rapidly, and maintaining their vitality under severest persecution. 

 It has been cut down to the ground repeatedly during a season, only to be 

 luxuriant as ever in a month. It is allied to that beautiful climber, the cypress 

 vine, and to the "morning glory." 



Cuscuta Europaa. — Dodder, "devil's gut;" C. cpilinum — flax dodder, found 

 in all foreign flaxseed. It is a small, yellow, leafless vine, sometimes known 

 as " goldthread vine," twining around weeds in damp places, in tangled masses 

 like bunches of threads of j'arn. Its effect is very deleterious upon flax, stunt- 

 ing the stem and impairing the fibre. The Enropcfa is common in clover. 



Camehna sativa. — " False flax" — " gold of pleasure." The large yellow 

 seeds found in flax, with some resemblance to flaxseed. 



Sinapis arvcnsis. — Charlock — wild mustard. It is found in a loamy soil, 

 such as flax delights in. Sheep eat it wdth a relish when turned out in tho 

 spring, apparently as a condiment. It has long been a pest of the fields. A 

 local English poet, of the olden time, was inspired to sing of it : 



" The kerlock plant is a zite to zee, 

 As it zhines in the vilds like j^old." 



But in obedience to his instincts, which led him to betake himself rather to 

 poesy than the plough, he despairs of all attempts to eradicate it : 



" But he zays, zays 'e, ' It aint no use 

 Vor to go to a girt ex})ense, 

 Vor 't\Yili come agen, whatc'er thee does, , 

 Nor ft year or two vrom hence.' " 



It is very prolific, and has been known to produce 8,000 seeds from a single 

 plant. It has, too, a very enduring vitality ; having been extirpated by years 

 of clean culture, on ploughing a little deeper it has again taken possession of 

 the field. An instance is recorded, in which the turf of a very old pasture 

 having been pai'ed and burned, there sprang up one of the finest crops of 

 muBtard. 



