12 



A NUMBER OF COMMON WEEDS, WITH POPULAR DESCRIPTIONS 

 AND NOTES ON ERADICATION. 



FJG. 1. 



FOX-TAIL, YELLOW FOX-TAIL, BOTTLE GRASS, OR PIGEON GRASS. 

 Ghameraphis glauca (L). 



A common weed in stubble, fallow, or root fields. It has a perennial 

 root, with stems about two feet high, of erect habit of growth. At the 

 summit of that part of the leaf which sheaths the stem (the ligule) there 

 is a fringe of hairs. The leaves are flat, rough above, and smooth 

 beneath. The dense, close spike, which resembles millet, is bristly and 

 tawny yellow in color. 



The seeds are in. long, various shades of brown in color, with 

 transverse wrinkles. They frequently retain their green color, and are 

 quite commonly found as an impurity in clover and grass seed. (See 

 Fig. 1, a). An average plant produces about 15,000 seeds. 



Time of flowering, July- September. 



Time of seeding, August-October. 



Eradication. Gangplow stubble ground about three inches deep 

 early in the fall ; as soon as the seeds have had time to sprout, cultivate 

 thoroughly ; repeat cultivation and rib the land with a double mould 

 board plow the last thing before the frost. Put in a hoed crop (potatoes, 

 roots, or corn) next spring and cultivate thoroughly throughout the grow- 

 ing season. Follow with a grain crop seeded with clover, without plow- 

 ing after the roots, for if the land is plowed it is liable to bring more 

 seed to the surface, When the sod is broken up, plow shallow in the 

 latter part of harvest, cultivate with harrow and cultivator throughout 

 the fall, and rib up as above. 



In the early after-harvest cultivation of stubble ground, some harrow 

 the stubble as the first step ; and when the weed seeds have sprouted 

 under their light covering, then gang-plow and harrow, and stir after- 

 wards with the cultivator as time permits throughout the fall. 



NOTE. In all of the accompanying illustrations, in addition io the 

 representations of the plants, the seeds are shown both natural size and 

 enlarged. 



