PROGRESS OF THE SEEDLING CHOP. 41 



flax, in a general way. The dodders are a remarkable 

 genus of plants, very peculiar in their mode of growth. 

 They spring from seed which has dropped on the ground ; 

 they rise, and attach themselves to some neighbouring 

 plant, in the choice of which they are somewhat capri- 

 cious. Unfortunately, clover and flax are special fa- 

 vourites. Dodder will cling to the common ivy, a real 

 blood-sucking parasite upon a merely apparent one ; and 

 we have seen a common covered with furze which was 

 almost entirely overhung with dodder. As soon as the 

 dodder has fairly intwined itself upon its victim, it com- 

 pletely dissolves its connection with the earth, and feeds, 

 like a vegetable vampire, on the sap of the plant to which 

 it clings. It has no leaves ; only flowers and stalks, 

 which latter stream in the breeze, like so many reddish- 

 green threads. "When they touch a plant, tendril-like, 

 they grasp it and fix themselves upon it, and the infection 

 spreads over the field like wildfire. The dodder pest will 

 enlarge itself in a circle, from a single plant w r hich grew 

 in the centre, exactly as, though not quite at so quick a 

 rate, a circular wave will expand over a whole pond, when 

 a stone is dropped on its placid surface. "With three or 

 four such centres of dodder, a small field would soon be 

 ruined. The only remedy is, as soon as the plague is 

 perceived, to pull up mercilessly every infected plant, and 

 burn it, for tear of mischief elsewhere, or on a future 

 day. The above may be considered as the principal 

 enemies which threaten the prosperity of a rising crop. 

 As a wise preliminary precaution, thorough draining 

 ought to have been performed. On lands saturated with 

 either underground or surface water, good flax cannot be 

 expected. It is probable that nine cases out of ten of 

 the failures of this crop in Ireland arise from the filtration 

 of water too near the surface ; and that of the numerous 

 other reasons for missed crops usually assigned, almost 

 every one is imaginary. 



