"CLOVER DODDER "-REMEDIES FOR. 125 



least observant farmer. It has the peculiarity ot 

 possessing no leaves, consisting of merely a mass of 

 twining suckers, of a semi-transparent nature, and a yel- 

 lowish white colour, very much resembling, to use Pro- 

 fessor Henslow's words, "fine, closely-tangled, wet cat- 

 gut." The flowers, which are very abundant, are white, 

 tinged with pink, and give the plant a very beauti- 

 ful as well as singular appearance appearing in knotted 

 bunches, each bunch containing on the average about 

 sixty seeds, capable of producing as many plants. As 

 it is an annual it could be readily disposed of if we 

 could only arrest its flowering; but that, owing to its 

 mode of growth, being hidden in its early stages by the 

 foliage of the clover, is very difficult ; while, from its great 

 powers of increase, a few bunches of flowers would produce 

 seed enough to stock the ground for another growth. 

 The best mode of treatment is, undoubtedly, to dig up the 

 surface soil to a distance of 2 or 3 feet all round the spot 

 in which it is noticed, and then to burn the soil and vege- 

 table matter altogether, so as to destroy any seeds that 

 may already have been formed and shed. Any attempt 

 to extirpate merely the injured plants will be ineffectual, 

 as the suckers, which are quite sufficient to continue the 

 growth, extend themselves in all directions round the 

 spot, and some would be sure to be passed by unobserved. 

 On the Continent this form of injury has been the sub- 

 ject of experiment, and a remedy, which is said to be 

 entirely successful in its application, has been recom- 

 mended. This is the common green vitriol (sulphate of 

 iron), which should be dissolved in water at the rate of 

 1 Ib. to the gallon, and distributed by a watering-pot 

 over the infected spot. The action is immediate on the 

 " dodder/' which it speedily destroys, while the clover and 

 other plants are comparatively uninjured by it. Two 

 applications on succeeding days are said to be quite sum'- 



