30 FARM WEEDS OF CANADA 



next season, stray plants should be hand-pulled; or, if they are 

 still thick in a few spots, they should be cut and burnt. ^ [ .. 



Instead of continuing the. summer-fallow, sow in June, after 

 the second plowing, a crop for green feed. This crop, however, 

 must be cut before any of the Wild Oat seeds approach maturity. 

 Sometimes early barley is sown in the hope of ripening grain, 

 but this is risky. Cattle and sheep may be pastured on infested 

 land with good results. Their tramping packs the soil and 

 stimulates germination, and they eat off the young plants. 



Seed is often allowed to ripen on the edges of fields and 

 in fence corners, and thus the object of much faithful work is 

 defeated. 



CHESS (Btomus secalinus L.) 



Other English names : Cheat, Wheat Thief. 



Introduced from Europe. Winter annual, stems erect, 

 simple. The portion of the leaf that embraces the stem is 

 smooth, strongly nerved. Panicle loose, its branches some- 

 what drooping, with many flowered, hairless spikelets, which 

 are so distinct as to show openings between them along the stalk, 

 when viewed from the side. 



The seed (Plate 72, fig. 5) is about 1/3 inch long, enclosed in 

 scales of the same length. The outer one is convex, thick and, 

 unrolled at the margin when ripe, provided with a short bristly 

 awn. The inner scale is bordered with stiff hairs and adherent 

 to the kernel. The footstalk of the grain above is strongly 

 curved and club-shaped. 



Time of flowering: June, seeds ripen in July. 

 Propagation: By seeds. 



Occurrence: Widely distributed wherever winter wheat or 

 other fall or winter crops are grown. 



