CHAPTER I. 



OF WEEDS WHICH INFEST SAMPLES OF CORN. 



The weeds of this description do not exceed ten in number, 

 and it very rarely happens that more than two sorts are 

 found associated in one sample of wheat. They vary as to 

 soil so much, that some of the worst weeds in fens and 

 marshes are not known at all on clay cold soils, and are but 

 very little seen on any sort of dry turnip land. Light loams 

 and deep loose soils generally have most weeds by nature. 

 It seems therefore desirable to divide weeds also as to the 

 soils on which they prevail; but this may be supplied by 

 proper remarks added to each. 



Weeds which infest the sample are, 1. Darnel. 2. Drank. 

 3. Cockle. 4. Tares. 5. Melilot. 6. Wild Oats. 7. HarifF. 

 8. Crow-needles. 9. Black-bindweed. 10. Snake-weed. 

 11. Charlock-seeds, in barley sometimes. 



1. DARNEL (lolium temulentum). True Darnel, 



Specific character: Culms two feet or more in length, 

 rigid, jointed ; spike bearded, flat, a foot long ; seeds 

 ripen with wheat. — Fig. 1. Spikelet. 2. Lower calyx 

 with its occasional elliptical appendage. 3. Flower. 

 4. Germen, style, and nectary. This plant is a native 

 of Britain, and is marked in books as an annual ; but 

 it is more properly in this country a biennial ; because 

 it does not ripen its seed freely, unless sown in the 

 autumn. The seeds are large, and nearly the size of the 

 smaller grains of wheat ; they are also equally heavy. 



