ERADICATION OF FERNS FROM PASTURE LANDS. ' ' ' '# 



varies much in size; in the Eastern States it is 1 to 3 feet high, but on 

 the Pacific coast it attains a height of 6 to 8 feet. The leaf blades are 

 triangular and umbrella-like, 1 to 4 feet broad, and long and more or 

 less three parted, the larger branches usually twice divided. At 

 maturity the fruiting leaves have a continuous edging of spore cases, 

 which shed the light-brown spores in great quantities. 



In the Eastern States the brake is distributed somewhat more gen- 

 erally than the hay-scented fern, not being confined so exclusively to 





5$S 



FIG. 2. A pasture in southern New York with a characteristic growth of hay-scented ferns. 



the hill and mountain country. From its habit of being widely creep- 

 ing, the brake does not occur in dense, well-defined patches, like the 

 hay-scented fern (fig. 4) . 



CONTROL OF FERNS IN THE EASTERN STATES. 



As the grazing of live stock is a prominent feature in the farming 

 of the eastern region in which ferns are weeds, and as the area of avail- 

 able pasturage has been curtailed by the presence of the ferns, thesQ 

 weeds are looked upon as a serious pest. Moreover, since these lands 

 for the most part are so steep and rocky as to prohibit cultivation, and 

 since the ferns, unlike many other pasture weeds, can not be reduced 

 in number by increasing the vigor and thickening the stand of the 

 pasture grasses, a real problem in weed control is presented. 



