126 COMMON WEEDS 



ing with a 5 per cent solution of pure carbolic acid is 

 of value, and that Wild Onion on arable land may be 

 destroyed, or at least largely reduced by treatment with 

 such a solution, without injury to the soil for a subse- 

 quent corn crop. Pure carbolic acid (97 per cent) 

 can be purchased at 2s. to 2S. 6d. per gallon according 

 to quantity ordered, and if 100 gallons of the solution 

 be necessary per acre the cost for material would be, 

 say, 5 gallons of acid at 2s. 3d., or us. 3d. 



Before treating a large area it would be well to 

 experiment on half an acre, using a Charlock spraying 

 machine to apply the liquid. 



Field Garlic (A Ilium oleraceum L.) grows about a 

 foot high, with slender, solid, semicircular or nearly 

 flat leaves, and a loose head of pale green or brownish- 

 pink flowers. This species is reproduced in the same 

 manner as A. vineale, but is not usually a serious pest, 

 growing chiefly on the borders of fields. Similar 

 methods to those suggested for Wild Onion will prob- 

 ably get rid of it. 



GRAMINE^E 



Slender or Field Foxtail (Alopecurus agrestis L.), also 

 known as Black Bent or Hungerweed, is closely related 

 to the valuable Meadow Foxtail (A. pratensis L.), but is 

 annual. The spike-like panicle is frequently purplish, 

 more slender, not softly hairy but rough to the touch, 

 and each flowering glume bears a longish bent awn. 

 This grass (Fig. 37) is chiefly a weed of arable land, 

 especially cornfields on heavy soils, but will grow 

 strongly on many kinds of land. Fream says: tl Cases 

 are recorded in which fields of wheat have been quite 

 destroyed by this pest." It is an annual which flowers 

 from May to October, ripening its seeds chiefly towards 

 the end of summer. 



