PARASITES— BROOM-RAPE. 21 



shooting up through the clover and twining itself 

 round every stalk of it. It commences in small 

 patches all over the field, and gradually extends itself — 

 destroying in its progress all vegetation, and leaving 

 the whole area as black as if a fire had existed on the 

 spot. The seed of Clover -^~v 

 Dodder is of a pale grey / ^ 



colour, and looks so like frag- V ^ «"< 

 ments of greyish clay that it 

 takes a keen sight and a close seeds of the ciover Dodder i 

 inspection to detect it amongst ^^""^^'^^^ '■''^ °^'"'^^ ^'^^- "^ 

 the seed. As it is not much more than half the size 

 of any clover seed it is easy to get rid of it by sifting. 

 When Dodder appears the only remedy is to dig up 

 the crop on, and for a considerable distance around, the 

 spots where the Dodder appeared, and then to burn 

 all the plants along with the pared soil. If the 

 Dodder is allowed to mature and shed its seeds those 

 may lie dormant in the soil for many years. 



Lesser and Greater Broom-Rape. 



{Orobanche minor and 0. elatior.) 



Those also attack clover, attaching themselves to the 

 roots of the seedling clover, and drawing nourishment 

 therefrom. The tall Broom-Eape sometimes has a stem 

 as much as an inch and a half thick and a foot and a 

 half high, and looks as much out of place growing on 

 the clover stump as does the young cuckoo in the hedge- 

 sparrow's nest. The qualities of this parasitic plant are 

 powerfully astringent. When it has once established 

 itself it can only be removed by hand-picking. 



