18 FARM WEEDS OF CANADA 



land should be again plowed or preferably ridged in the fall. 

 These rotations may be expected to give good results anywhere 

 in Canada east of Manitoba." 



SHEEP DESTROY WEEDS. 



When an abundance of succulent pasture of the finer grasses 

 is provided, weeds can scarcely be said to be favoured by sheep 

 as a staple part of their diet. Sheep will, however, even when 

 good pasture is provided them, vary their diet by nipping off 

 seedling plants or the fresh growing parts, and the bloom with 

 its content of sweets, from older plants of many of our common 

 weeds. When their pasture is depleted, sheep feed readily on 

 Wild Mustard, Ox-eye Daisy, Yarrow, Plantain, Perennial and 

 Annual Sow Thistle, Wild Vetch or Tare, Docks, Sorrel, Lamb's 

 Quarters, Milkweed, Ragwort, Burdock and Shepherd's Purse. 

 In fact, there are few weeds that sheep will not eat, to the extent 

 of preventing them from seeding, if there is not enough of their 

 favorite grasses to satisfy them. It is only when the supply of 

 food is unusually short that sheep will feed on plants having 

 leaves and stems covered with bristly hairs or spines, or with a 

 flavour that is obnoxious to them. When the plants are young 

 and tender, however, sheep have been observed to eat such 

 weeds as Ragweed, Blue-weed, Cockles, Orange Hawkweed, 

 Hound's Tongue, Stickseed, Mullein, Canada Thistle, Stinkweed, 

 Toadflax, and others that are bristly or have a pungent flavour. 

 Thorough cultivation with a systematic rotation of crops, com- 

 bined with the maintenance of as many sheep as can be kept 

 to advantage, is a certain and profitable means of keeping weeds 

 under control. 



SEEDING TO GRASS. 



Lands foul with some kinds of weeds, particularly annuals, 

 may advantageously be seeded to grass for hay or pasture. 

 The cultivation of hoed crops becomes too expensive for labour 

 when the soil is polluted with weed seeds. Grain crops may 

 also be unprofitable because of weeds, and they afford an oppor- 



