REPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGIST AND BOTANIST. 275 



There -would not appear to be any definite relation between the weight of wax 

 added and that of the wax utilized, though the data oi II, I 2, and K 1, K 2, make it 

 evident that in very jtight foundations the amount of wax utilized is very small and the 

 amount added correspondingly large. This would point to economy in supplying heavier 

 foundations than the brands just referred to, if the question resolves itself into one of 

 furnishing wax that can be utilized by the bees. 



The average weight of " foundation " after the removal of the cells, is, all things 

 considered, seen to be fairly constant. The greatest weight was from " Choice Wax, 

 Given Process " — the heaviest foundation experimented with — , the least weight was 

 obtained from " Choice Wax, Root Mill, temperature 89 degrees F. " by no means the 

 lightest brand used, but the brand from which the bees utilized the most wax. 



In considering the average weight of foundation wax utilized, the largest amounts 

 were from A 1, A 2, and H 1, H 2, the Choice Wax of the Root Mill and Given 

 Process, respectively. The least amounts so utilized were from " Patent Process " 12 

 square feet and 15 square feet per pound. 



In summing up the results of this year's work, we may conclude that, considering 

 the values of the comb foundations to be dependent upon the extent to which they are 

 utilized by bees in cell formation, the Choice Wax, Root Mill, temperature 89 degrees F., 

 gave the best, and the " Patent Process," 12 square feet and 15 square feet per pounds, 

 the poorest results. Both the Choice and Poor Wax of the " Given Process " give very 

 heavy " fishbones." Concerning the other brands on these points, the differences are 

 not sufficiently well marked to allow of any emphatic statement being made respecting 

 them. 



F. T. SlIUTT. 



NOXIOUS A\^EEDS. 



The subject of weeds is one of burning interest all over Canada, and is too large to 

 treat exhaustively in this place. Farmers, as a rule, are not well informed even with 

 regard to the common spacies of aggressive weeds occurring on their land. Figures have 

 already been given in former reports of some of the plants, the appeai-ance, name and 

 nature of which it was important, from their injuries, should be known so as to be 

 eradicated whenever noticed. I submit herewith a figure of one of the new pests of 

 Manitoba, namely the Cow Cockle (Saponaria Vaccaria, L.), also known locally under 

 the difierent names of Cow Herb, China Cockle and Soap wort. This plant has been 

 noticed as an aggressive enemy in field crops only during the last two years, and so far 

 only in the province of Manitoba, where it has spread very rapidly, particularly in the 

 Mennonite settlements and other parts of Manitoba, the pretty porcelain pink flowers 

 sometimes occurring in such numbers as to give a reddish tinge to many acres of crop. 

 The Cow Cockle belongs to the Pink or Carnation family. It is an annual herb with 

 pale green, fleshy, sessile leaves, borne in pairs at each joint of the stem. The flowers 

 first appear in Manitoba in July ; they are about f inch in diameter and are borne in 

 large numbers, but each singly at the end of the thread-like branchlets of the many 

 times divided flowering stems, as shown in the excellent figure herewith, which is 

 engraved from a photograph taken by Mr. R. G. Mackay at Indian Head. Strong plants 

 will frequently i^row over two feet in height, with a diameter almost equal. The smooth 

 8c— 18^"' 



