464 THE SMALL GRAINS 



Hogs will root an infested field quickly, to get the roots 

 and underground stems, of which they are very fond. For 

 hog pasturing, the field should be plowed in late summer 

 after removal of the crop, and hogs not ringed turned on 

 until cold weather. They are again turned on in the 

 spring until planting time, when an intertilled crop is 

 planted, and its cultivation completes the eradication of 

 the weed. The seeds of bindweed are not often found in 

 grain. 



507. Horse nettle (Solanum carolinense, Linn.). 

 This weed is common and troublesome from the Middle 

 Atlantic states westward to the Great Plains, and is one 

 of the bad weeds of Oklahoma. It propagates freely by 

 slender roots which are often 3 feet long. 



Stem 1 to 2 feet high, somewhat straggling, half shrubby at the 

 "base, hairy or merely roughish, with minute hairs which are star- 

 shaped, also armed with stout subulate yellowish prickles which are 

 usually numerous ; leaves oblong or sometimes ovate, obtusely sin- 

 uate, toothed or lobed or deeply cut, 2 or 4 inches long ; flowers in 

 racemes, later becoming 1-sided, calyx consisting of slender lobes, 

 corolla light blue or white, an inch or less in diameter ; flowers fol- 

 lowed by the yellow globose berries, ^ to f inch in diameter ; seeds 

 small, less than ^ inch long, yellowish, minutely roughened. The 

 flowers and berries resemble those of the potato, to which family of 

 plants this weed belongs. 



It is claimed by some that this weed is as difficult to 

 eradicate as Canada thistle or the bindweed. Though 

 troublesome in all crops and in all soils, it is worse in sandy 

 or loose soils. There are two fairly effective methods of 

 exterminating horse nettle. One is the use of an inter- 

 tilled or hoed crop such as corn, a method almost always 

 good. Before seeding, the ground should be kept well 

 cultivated. After the crop appears above ground, both 



