20 FARM FRIENDS AND FARM FOES 



the margins of streams frequent mowing through the sea- 

 son will prove helpful. 



The Blue . and the White Vervains or Wild Verbenas, 

 Ironweed, Joe-pye weed, and the various Wild Asters are 

 other well-known plants of this family that are likely to be 

 abundant in moist places in pastures and meadows. Drain- 

 age, tillage, and seeding down are the best ways to be rid 

 of them. 



Carrot Family 



The Wild Carrot, which is typical of the great family of 

 umbel-bearing plants, is particularly troublesome in pastures 

 and meadows. Such fields are often wholly occupied by 

 it, rendering the little grass that may develop practically 

 worthless. This plant has been troublesome in the Eastern 

 states for many years, and has recently been spreading 

 through the fertile fields of the Middle West. 



The small white flowers of the Wild Carrot are crowded 

 together in flat conspicuous heads, commonly having a 

 little purple flower in the middle. These develop into 

 curious masses, suggesting miniature birds' nests, rounded 

 in outline. The individual "seeds" are really spinose 

 akenes which may be distributed by animals or by the wind 

 that blows the whole seed head along when it breaks off. 



The Wild Carrot propagates only by means of seeds, so 

 that the main point to be attained in suppressing it is the 

 prevention of seeding. This may be accomplished by per- 

 sistent mowing, which will finally lead to the death of the 

 plants. At first, mowing simply causes new flower-bear- 

 ing shoots to be sent out. The plants may also be de- 

 stroyed by hand pulling, or by cutting them off slightly 

 below the soil surface with a spud, hoe, or disk harrow. 

 When a grass field is badly infested with this weed, the 



