is not always the case, and a far better plan on the large prairie farms where 

 seeding down with a grain crop is seldom resorted to, is to kill the young 

 plants of Wild Mustard and all other annual weeds, the seeds of which germ- 

 inate near the surface of the soil, by harrowing growing crops .with weed- 

 ers or light harrows after the crop is well up and there is no danger of 

 covering the blade too deeply. Some have hesitated to adopt this method, 

 fearing that the grain plants would be dragged out by the harrows. No such 

 fears need be entertained, if the work is done when the land is in the proper 

 condition for harrowing and with light, slope-toothed harrows. It is sug- 

 gested that all who have trouble with annual weeds, such as the various kinds 

 of Mustard, Stinkweed, Eagweed, Lamb's-quarters, Wild Buckwheat, etc., 

 should at any rate try this method on a small part of their crop ; one strip 

 up the side of one field will be enough to show the good results to be obtained. 

 In addition to the real Wild Mustard there are two or three other trouble- 

 some species which may be confounded with it, and are all to be regarded 

 in the same light by farmers on account of their aggressiveness. 



BIRD RAPE, or German Rape, Brassica campestris, L. (including Brassica 

 Rapa, L., and B. Napus, L., which cannot be separated by any permanent 

 characters). -This resembles the Wild Mustard very closely in general appear- 

 ance, but has only the root leaves hairy. The stem, upper leaves which clasp 

 the stem by an auricled base, and the long pods on spreading pedicels, are 

 all perfectly smooth and waxy like the .leaf of a cabbage. This form is 

 abundant in Manitoba and in some parts of the Provinces of Quebec and 

 Ontario. An important difference between Bird Rape and Wild Mustard 

 is that the former cannot be killed by spraying with the bluestone solution. 



INDIAN MUSTARD, Brassica juncea, L., which closely resembles Bird 

 Rape, has been detected in a few places in Manitoba and Ontario. It differs 

 chiefly in the stem leaves, which have not clasping bases, in the shape of the 

 pods and in the shorter pedicels, which are less spreading. 



BLACK MUSTARD, Brassica nigra (L.) Eoch. Although appearing occasion- 

 ally in all of the Provinces and often mentioned by correspondents, the true 

 Black Mustard does not, as far as I am aware, occur anywhere in Canada as 

 a troublesome weed upon farms. It may be at once known by its long 

 spreading branches covered with short square pods only half an inch long, 

 which are erect and closely appressed to the stem. 



WILD RADISH, Raphanvs Raphanistrum, L. Much of the '"Wild Mus- 

 tard," "Cadluck" or "Kale" of Nova Scotian correspondents is really the 

 Wild Radish, which is an annual 1 to 2 feet high with a few long branches 

 starting low down. The root is slender, not swollen as in the Garden Radish. 

 Leaves pale yellowish green, deeply lobed and bearing like the stem a few 

 stiff bristles. The flowers are fewer and larger than in Wild Mustard, notice- 

 ably paler yellow, conspicuously veined. The constricted seed pods give the 

 best characters, and with these no mistake can be made between these two 

 similar plants. In Wild Radish the seed-pods have no valves but are com- 

 posed of two joints, the lower one small, one-tenth of an inch, and seedless, 

 which remains attached to the footstalk: the upper, cylindrical, li inches 

 long, with several one-seeded cells formed by transverse partitions. This seed- 

 bearing portion sepni'ates from the first joint, lenvins? it attached to the 

 pedicel and in threshing is broken up into single-seeded sections. 



All of the nbove weeds may be treated in the same way, except that the 

 Wild Radish, like tlie Bird Rape, cannot be destroyed easily by spraying 

 with the bluestone solution. 



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