WEEDS OF AGRICULTURE. 305 



seeds with wheat; in any spring crop I have never seen it 

 grow. The name of drank (or more commonly drauk), given 

 to this weed as being common in Norfolk, is a name by 

 which this grass is known and called in many parts of 

 England. 



In the central counties of Eng-land these seeds are called 

 simply ray, both by millers and farmers ; and though neither 

 like to see it in wheat, they know that it is perfectly 

 wholesome. 



3. COCKLE. Corn-campion (agrostemma githago). Whole 

 plant, except the petals and capsule, covered with soft 

 hairs ; calyx longer than the corolla ; petals entire or 

 slightly emarginate, and naked. 



A well-known annual weed, of rather an ornamental ap- 

 pearance, bearing purplish red flowers. In spring its leaves 

 are long, downy, and slender, and the plant is strong and 

 conspicuous at weeding time. It grows somewhat tall before 

 it branches, and is in full flower and bearing when the wheat 

 is ripening, growing two feet and a half high. The seeds 

 are very numerous, and contained in bulky capsules ; they 

 are black and rough, resembling a rolled-up hedgehog, and 

 are nearly as big as small wheat kernels ; they are filled 

 with white flour, and very heavy. The miller's objection to 

 these seeds is, that their black husks break so fine as to 

 pass the boulters, and render the flour specky; also, because 

 the seed is bulky, if there be much in the sample, it detracts 

 considerably from the produce in flour : whatsoever is not 

 wheat, must lower the value of that which should be all 

 wheat. 



It is the duty and interest of farmers to meet their cus- 

 tomers the millers with clean samples ; for the latter never 

 forget to make use of every objection to beat down the 

 price. " I would give you the other shilling if it were not 

 for the cockle/' is a common conclusion to one of these bar- 

 gains : so a farmer having a hundred quarters of wheat 

 grown in one field, loses five pounds by solving a little 

 cockle. 



