THE PEA FAMILY 109 



about 1/5 of the circumference of the seed in length, thin, thread- 

 like. 



Time of flowering: June to August; seeds ripe by August. 

 Propagation : By seeds. 



Occurrence: Widely distributed in cereal crops and as a 

 wayside weed throughout eastern Canada. 



Injury: When present in quantity, Wild Tares materially 

 reduce the yield of grain; they sometimes mat the crop by 

 twining about the stems of the grain and make it more likely' 

 to lodge. It is often difficult to operate self-binders in grain 

 crops matted with this weed. The seeds are exceedingly common 

 in grain and are especially objectionable in oats required for 

 milling. 



Remedy: Sow clean seed grain. Adopt a short rotation 

 of crops, including early maturing barley rather than oats, on 

 lands where this weed is prevalent. Cultivate bare stubble 

 directly after harvest, to stimulate germination of seeds, and 

 pasture off the crop so produced. Badly infested fields may 

 be seeded to grass for three or four years, but this will be found 

 necessary only when a crop rotation, to prevent it from seeding, 

 can not be followed. 



ALLIED SPECIES: Cultivated Tare or Spring Vetch (Vicia 

 sativa L.), so valuable for fodder and known to some farmers 

 as Vetches or Fitches, somewhat resembles Wild Tare, but 

 has much larger leaves and flowers 3/4-1^ inches long, with brown 

 pods, and does not persist in the land when sown. The seed 

 is nearly 1/4 inch in diameter, generally plain black, the thread- 

 like scar running about 1/4 the circumference u'" the seed. 



Purple Tufted Vetch (Vicia Cracca L.) is a persistent perennial 

 rather difficult to get out of old meadows, but it produces a 

 large crop of rich fodder which is rather beneficial than other- 

 wise in hay. The seed is similar to that of Wild Tare but the 

 scar is much broader and longer, about 1/3 to 1/2 the circum- 

 ference of the seed. 



