THE SUNFLOWER FAMILY 159 



suppress it. This pest does not give trouble on lands worked 

 under a short rotation of crops. Clover for hay in which this 

 weed is plentiful should be cut early. Pasture lands overrun 

 with it may be devoted to sheep grazing. Timothy containing 

 Ox-eye Daisy should not be taken for seed. 



ALLIED SPECIES: To the tribe Anthemideae belongs Com- 

 mon Tansy (Tanacetum vulgare L.) which is quite different from 

 Common Ragwort, although the two plants seem to be confused 

 in the Maritime Provinces. Tansy has almost rayless flowers; 

 quite smooth, 5-ribbed seeds, with 5 blunt teeth at the top 

 instead of a silky pappus. The plant is pleasantly aromatic 

 instead of rankly fetid, a characteristic which in Nova Scotia 

 has gained for Common Ragwort the name of Stinking Willie. 



On the western plains there are many species of Wormwoods 

 (Artemisia) which are spoken of collectively as Sage Brushes. 

 Two of these, Pasture Sage (Artemisia ludoviciana Nutt.) and 

 the so-called Sweet Sage or Lesser Pasture Sage (Artemisia frigida 

 Willd.) sometimes infest home pastures, where the grass has been 

 eaten close, necessitating breaking up the sod. The best known 

 of the wormwoods is False Tansy (Artemisia biennis Willd.), 

 a biennial which occurs in all parts of Canada. Although easily 

 eradicated, it is an unsightly weed. It is quite common among 

 grain crops on stubble. The seed (Plate 76, fig. 85) is 1/15 

 of an inch long, dark brown, egg-shaped, wrinkled lengthwise, 

 and with a conspicuous, pale-coloured, ring-like basal scar. 



They seem to have paid more attention formerly, at least in some parts of Scotland, 

 to the extirpation of annual weeds than is thought of at present. It is recorded that 

 an intelligent landlord, Sir William Grierson, was accustomed to hold Goul (Chrysan- 

 themum) courts, for the express purpose of fining the farmers, on whose growing crop 

 three heads, or upwards of that weed was found. Such a practice if annually adopted 

 would soon extirpate annual weeds. 



Sinclair, System of Husbandry, 1814. 



