80 LILIACEAE (LILY FAMILY) 



large, flat, broadly winged brown seeds which easily sail on the 

 wind or float on water. 



Means of control 



For infested meadows, drainage and cultivation is the best rem- 

 edy. In places where that is impracticable, the rootstocks should 

 be grubbed out and perhaps sold for sufficient to pay for the 

 labor of extraction. Seeding should in every case be prevented by 

 close cutting while in first bloom. 



FIELD GARLIC 

 Allium vinedle, L. 



Other English names: Wild Garlic, Crow Garlic, Wild Onion. 

 Introduced. Perennial. Propagates by secondary underground 

 bulbs, by bulblets produced on the flowering stalk, and rarely by 



Time of bloom: Late May to June. 



Seeds : Seldom produced. Aerial bulblets ripen at the same time as 

 winter wheat and rye and are harvested with them. 



Range : Massachusetts to South Carolina, westward to the Missis- 

 sippi River. 



Habitat : Prefers sandy loam ; fields, meadows, and pastures. 



In localities where it is at all common, this is one of the most 

 injurious of weeds and most difficult to destroy. Its presence in 

 pastures where dairy stock is grazing is ruinous to the quality of 

 butter and cheese produced, and any food prepared with garlic- 

 flavored milk is unpalatable. The very flesh of animals that have 

 eaten the plant is permeated with its odor and taste. It is also a 

 pest in wheat fields. In the three states of Maryland, Virginia, and 

 Tennessee, where the weed is extremely troublesome, the loss to the 

 wheat crop alone is estimated by a government report to be more 

 than a million dollars annually. The bulblets are about the same 

 size and weight as a grain of wheat, making it impossible to clean 

 them out at harvest time even with the best of sieves and fans. 

 But if infested grain is kept for several months and subjected to 

 freezing cold, the bulblets dry and shrivel, becoming light enough to 

 be fanned out with a good machine. Experiments have been con- 

 ducted in the seed laboratory at Washington with drying machines 



