WEEDS OF GARDENS AND FIELDS 37 



SUNFLOWER FAMILY 



The Ragweed or Roman Wormwood is a pestiferous 

 plant found in most situations where weeds may grow late 

 in summer. It is nearly always to be seen along paths 

 and highways, in fence corners, and along garden borders, 

 as well as in cornfields and wheat stubble. It is an an- 

 nual, and has a straight central stalk from 

 which many spreading branches arise. The 

 latter bear numerous leaves with deeply 

 cut lobes and many small, greenish, incon- 

 spicuous flowers. As in the case of the 

 Horseweed, to which the Ragweed is 

 closely related, the pollen-bearing blossoms 

 are borne along the sides of the branches 

 near the tips, while the seed-bearing flowers 

 are borne along the lower parts of the 

 same branches. One reason the Ragweed is so ubiquitous 

 is because the young plants are able to develop in hard 

 soil where most weeds cannot get a foothold. 



When mowed off an inch or two above the ground, the 

 Ragweed is likely to produce new branches from the 

 cut main stalk, from which seeds may develop ; conse- 

 quently thorough work is necessary in subduing the pest. 

 One effective method is to pasture infested fields with 

 sheep. 



In the Middle West, the Giant Ragweed or Horseweed 

 is one of the most abundant plants. Its luxuriant growth 

 is to be found everywhere, but it is especially vigorous and 

 troublesome on moist bottom lands. Poorly cultivated or 

 untilled parts of such fields are frequently covered with a 

 dense growth of this robust annual, the seeds of which 

 are carried by water from one valley to another. It often 



