THE GRASS FAMILY 31 



Injury: Chess is hardier than wheat, and where the young 

 winter wheat has been killed out the Chess is seldom injured. 

 Being a vigorous grower, it stools freely and becomes much in 

 evidence where the wheat has been partially destroyed. This 

 appearance of Chess, apparently only in those patches where 

 the wheat has been winter-killed, has led some farmers to the 

 erroneous conclusion that Chess is a degenerate form of wheat. 

 It is a common impurity in winter wheat, and, to a less extent, 

 in winter rye and other grains and seeds of commerce, and in 

 feeding stuffs. Chess is objectionable in wheat for milling as 

 it gives the flour a dark colour and a disagreeable flavour. Remov- 

 ing it by cleaning causes considerable loss of the smaller grains 

 of wheat. 



Remedy: Use clean seed. The seed of Chess is short-lived. 

 When buried in the soil it will not retain its vitality for more 

 than three or four years. A four years rotation of crops, ex- 

 clusive of winter grains, will clean the soil of its seeds. Cut and 

 destroy all patches of Chess where the grain crop has killed out. 

 Do not allow the seeds to become mixed with manure and be 

 transported again to. the fields. Farm stock or birds, when 

 given an opportunity to feed on mature Chess or its seeds, 

 will do much to distribute vital seeds. For a field badly infested, 

 thick seeding with early red clover is recommended. The first 

 crop of hay should be cut before Chess has had an opportunity 

 to produce seeds. 



ALLIED SPECIES: Soft Chess (Bromus hordeaceus L.) is 

 occasionally found in fields and waste places in the eastern 

 provinces. It is shorter, and the whole plant is of a soft hairy 

 character. It seldom gives trouble as a weed. 



Slender Chess (Bromus tectorum L.) is another species some- 

 times met in waste places, rarely in fields. It is characterized by 

 slender stems, soft hairy leaves and long awns. 



The lyfe so short, the craft so long to lerne, 

 Th' assay so hard, so sharpe the conquering. 



Chaucer, The Assembly of Foules, 1381. 



