AGRICULTURAL TEXT-BOOK, 75 



abundant, to plow ouc*j or twice in the fall, after the seed has sprouted ; 

 and to cultivate spring hoed crops, avoiding wheat for some years. The 

 seed must on no account be mixed with manure or given to stock, as it 

 will thus be spread everywhere. As ordinary care and good farming 

 will prevent its spreading further west, and as, in lands that suit, it is 

 the most injurious wheat-weed in the United States, it is important that 

 the whole community should attend to it. If allowed to grow on one 

 farm, it will inevitnbly spread to others, being carried by birds, and 

 other means. 



Field Mustard (&amp;lt;f,) and Wild Radish, (/) are known by their bright 

 yellow flowers. They are injurious by taking the place of the grain, 

 and overpowering it. The seeds are small, numerous, and very persis 

 tent. The best mode of eradicating these plains, is to pull them by 

 hand when in blossom. 



Vetch, (e,) is a small creeping pea-like plant, adl ering to the grain 

 by its tendrils. In some soils it is very plentiful ; and is chiefly inju* 

 rious in grinding, discoloring the* flour and giving it a bad flavor. The 

 seeds are small, round, and black. It may be exterminated by one or 

 two hoed spring crops, and laying the land to pasture for a year or two. 

 A good fawning-mill would probably clean the grain completely, but the 

 writer has seen wheat brought to mill in Western Canada, containing 

 one third of the seeds of the Vetch. It appears to be confined to rich 

 clay and loamy lands. 



197. The parasitic fungi which are injurious to wheat are 

 (a,) Smut or Bunt ; (b t ) Rust ; (c,) Mildew. 



A Fungus is a cellular flowerless plant, deriving its nutriment by 

 means of spawn. It lives in air, and is propogated by spores, which 

 are naked, or by sporidia, so called when enclosed in little vesicles. 

 Fungi may be said to consist of a mass of little cells, or little threads,. 

 or of both combined in various ways. They have no seed or fruit ex 

 cept their sporules, spores or sporidia, of which the methods of attach 

 ment are singularly curious and beautiful. They derive their nourish 

 ment from the substance on which they grow, and not from the media 

 in which they exist, Well known Fungi are Mushrooms, Toadstools, 

 Puftballs, mould on cheese, &c., most of which are poisonous. Many 

 of them grow on living plants, as Smut and Rust ; but the small ones, 

 to a great extent, on animal substances in a state of partial decay ; or 

 where they can find nitrogenous compounds, as in bread, &c. The 

 spores are often of exceeding minuteness, and epidemic diseases hare 



