190 Weeds. 



submitted are specially applicable to north- 

 western conditions. 



Observations. ( i ) In all districts infested 

 with wild oats, darnel, or cheat, the great- 

 est care should be taken to get pure seed 

 for sowing, especially of spring oats, wheat, 

 and barley, for these weedy grasses will in 

 many cases ripen earlier than any of these. 

 (2) If these weeds exist on any farm, their 

 seeds, owing to their lightness, are sure to 

 get, mixed with the straw of the thrashed 

 grain, and thus get into the manure. Owing 

 to the remarkable vitality of the seed of 

 wild oats, whenever there is a suspicion that 

 the manure contains wild oat seed it is par- 

 ticularly essential that it should be thor- 

 oughly rotted before being used. (3) 

 Owing to its reluctance to germinate in the 

 fall, autumn cultivation does not do as 

 much for the eradication of this weed as 

 for many others. The greatest pains, there- 

 fore, must be taken to induce its seeds to 

 germinate by the earliest possible cultiva- 

 tion after harvest. As its seeds will not ger- 

 minate in autumn unless the weather is 

 warm and moist, the wild oat is very hard 

 to deal with in the American and Canadian 

 Northwest, where' the autumn days are 



