50 GRAMINEAE (GRASS FAMILY) 



as to suffer a dockage in the market of one to fifteen pounds to the 

 bushel. And it is to be remembered that the soil on which such a 

 crop grew is also damaged and below grade while the weed is its 

 tenant. If a field is newly infested and the plants are not too 

 numerous to make the job impracticable, hand-pulling and burning, 

 before the hardening of the seed, is not too great a price to pay for 

 its complete and prompt extermination. But if left until harvest, 

 stubbles should immediately be plowed, very shallow, so as to induce 

 germination of seeds in the soil, the growth being either grazed off 

 or plowed under for humus. In the spring, plow more deeply and 

 put in a hoed crop. Or a crop of sowed corn or rape may be grown 

 and used for soiling or pasturage. Or, if such crops as winter 

 wheat or rye are to be grown, summer-fallow the land, harrowing 

 it well about every week or ten days until time to sow the rye or the 

 wheat. Leave cultivated oats out of the rotation of crops until the 

 wild plants are entirely destroyed. When Wild Oats show them- 

 selves in a hay field, no stress of weather nor pressure of other work 

 should be allowed to interfere with the cutting of -the crop before 

 the Wild Oats are out of the "dough stage" of the seeds. The 

 plant makes excellent hay when cut green. 



WILD OAT-GRASS 



Danthbnia spicata, Beauv. 



Other English names: Poverty-grass, Bonnet-grass, Wire-grass, 



Wildcat Grass, Turkey-strip, Old Fog. 

 Native. Perennial. Propagates by seeds. 

 Time of bloom : June to July. 

 Seed-time: July to August. 

 Range: Eastern part of the United States and Canada, westward 



to the Dakotas, southward to the Gulf of Mexico. 

 Habitat: Dry, sterile, or rocky soil. 



This miserable little grass seems best contented when making 

 some hard, worn-out meadow look shabby and miserable. Its 

 name of "Poverty Grass" fits it well, for its presence seems to be 

 a sure indication of poverty of soil. The grass itself is dry and 

 tasteless, worth nothing either as hay or as pasture. 



Roots fibrous and clustered, the hard, smooth, wiry stems 

 nearly naked, most of the short, slim, curly leaves being gathered 



