difficult to get rid of; the leaves are compound, of 8 to 16 linear or lanceolate 

 leaflets ; the flowers purple, 1 or 2 in the upper axils of the leaves ; the pods 

 are black and linear, with the tip sharp and turned up, 2 inches long, 4 to 

 12-seeded, the seeds [Plate 55, fig. 50 natural size and enlarged 4 times] 

 globose, ranging from to T V of an inch in diameter, velvety black or 

 olive brown mottled with white and dotted with fine black points. 

 The Wild Tare is somewhat like the cultivated Tare, Vicia saliva, L., so val- 

 uable for fodder and known to some farmers as Vetches or Fitches. This lat- 

 ter has much larger leaves and seeds, with brown pods, and, what is of trreat 

 importance when sown, does not persist in the land. To eradicate this pest 

 a short rotation in which clover is included will be found most useful. After 

 harvest, cultivation will help by causing many seeds to germinate which 

 will be killed by the winter. 



The PURPLE TUFTED VETCH, Vicia Cracca, L., a persistent perennial, is 

 rather difficult to get out of old meadows but produces a large crop of rich 

 fodder, which is rather beneficial than otherwise in hay. 



The seed-pods of a few members of the Pea family become burs in wool, as 

 for instance the Spotted and Toothed Medicks, Medicago maculata, Willd., 

 and M. denticulata, Willd., neither of which, however, has established 

 itself firmly in Canada. The only plant of this family, giving trouble in 

 this way, is the Wild Liquorice, Glycyrrhiza lepidota, Pursh, which occurs 

 on the prairies. The Sweet Clovers, MeUlotus alba. Lam., and M. officinalis, 

 Willd., often complained of by farmers, are biennial wayside weeds, which, 

 as each plant lives for 2 years only, are easily subdued by preventing them 

 from seeding. The Rabbit's-foot Clover, Trifoli-um arvense, L., is a useless 

 member of the family which is not common in Canada and is of little im- 

 portance. 



THE ROSE FAMILY, ROSACE&. 



The Rose family is more remarkable for ornamental plants than for 

 those which may be considered agricultural pests. The family is extensive, 

 and there are gathered together within its limits plants with regular flowers, 

 by which their relationship can at once be seen but which present the great- 

 est diversity of characters in the fruit. In the Spira?as or Meadowsweets we 

 find the seeds in small, many-seeded, papery pockets called follicles. In the 

 true roses the lower part of the calyx is fleshy and urn-like, holding many 

 hairy achenes. In the raspberry the fruit is composed of many fleshy ber- 

 ries surrounding a dome-like receptacle. In the strawberry it is the recep- 

 tacle which becomes fleshy and bears the seeds (achenes) sunk in little pits 

 on its surface. In the Cinquefoils both the receptacle and the seeds are dry, 

 and the markings on the hard shell of the latter are of great service in sep- 

 arating some of the closely allied species. In the species of Avens (Geum) 

 and Dryas the achenes are prolonged into the persistent styles, which are 

 jointed or hooked above or are feathery. 



Of the small number of weeds belonging to the Rose family, it is sad to 

 relate that one of the most troublesome is the beautiful Prairie Rose, Rosa 

 pratinflola, Greene, (which includes also Rosa acicularis, var. Bourgeaui- 

 ana, and Rosa arkansana of Canadian writers). In Southern Manitoba this 

 dwarf, large-flowered rose is found very persistent in grain fields by reason 

 of its deep-rooted perennial underground stems, which send up many flower- 

 ing shoots from the axils of scales on the rootstocks. To destroy Roses, the 

 land should be ploughed with a sharp plough in hot weather and then disked 

 twice afterwards at intervals of a week or ten days. Mr. T. N. Willing re- 

 commends spring ploughing rather than stubble cropping for land which is 

 infested with Wild Roses and similar shrubs. The irregular, angular seeds, 

 with hard, whitish shells [Plate 55, fiar. 51 natural size and enlarged 4 

 times] are often found in the screenings of western grain. 



42 



