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 
hel ad by bulblets produced on the flowering stalk, and rarely by 
seeds. 
Time of bloom: Late May to June. 
Seeds: Seldom produced. Aérial 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 
