WEEDS OF MEADOWS AND PASTURES 17 



The careful pulling of these daisies in meadows or pas- 

 tures when they first appear and before they have gone to 

 seed, will help greatly in keeping them out. In general, 

 frequent rotation of crops with good cultivation and fer- 

 tilization is useful in preventing the growth of this as well 

 as of other weeds. 



The Orange Hawkweed is another dangerous weed of 

 this family introduced from Europe. Although the date 

 of its appearance on American soil is comparatively recent, 

 it has spread over a large part of the country, and in 

 many places .has already become seriously troublesome. 

 It has a dozen or more medium-sized orange-colored 

 blossoms borne on the top of a hairy stem, a foot or more 

 high. Nearly all the oblong leaves are in a rosette at the 

 base of the flower stalk ; they are hairy and about four 

 inches long. The plant lives from year to year by means 

 of its rootstocks and runners that spread from a single 

 root in all directions. 



The Orange Hawkweed is most likely to appear in pas- 

 tures or meadow lands, and should be destroyed by a thick 

 layer of salt as soon as noticed. When large areas are in- 

 fested, the application of salt at the rate of a ton to the 

 acre is recommended. 



The spiny leaves, stems, and purple flower heads of the 

 common Pasture Thistle are familiar to every one. This 

 plant is a biennial. When one of the winged seeds lodges 

 in a bit of soil, it develops the first season into a rosette of 

 leaves that store up nutriment in the thickened taproot. 

 This rosette lives through the winter and the next season 

 sends up the spiny flower stalk to develop a new crop 

 of seeds. Fortunately the plant spreads only through the 

 seeds and is easily destroyed by cutting off below the 

 crown. 



