1922.] 



Spotted Medick. 



645 



Arable. — On arable land Spotted Medick seldom becomes a 

 serious pest except through the spread of the fruits to neigh- 

 bouring fields. In root crops cultivation kills it, in cereal crops 

 it seldom grows to any extent, being crowded out. In hay, 

 however, a different case arises. The rapid growth of the 

 Medick enables it to outgrow grasses. Its rather prostrate 

 growth shades the leaves of the young grass and even where 

 a few plants do succeed in sending leaves through its dense mass 

 of foliage, the grass is frequently borne down by the pressure 

 and weight of the Medick. Should the season be a wet one, the 

 Medick becomes heavy with rain, weighs down the grasses, 

 and if it has reached the fruiting stage, the whole mass rots. 

 In the summer of 19*20, a small field of about one acre in 

 extent was left for hay. At harvest time half of the total 



Fig. 2. — Spotted Medick as it appears in Pasture Land. 



crop was lost, owing to the INIedick crushing out most of the 

 grasses, weighing down the rest and finally rotting. So far 

 none of the large fields have been affected to any great extent, 

 but should Medick again appear extensively the result may 

 be a serious loss. 



In Grass Land. — In pastures the Medick problem is still 

 more trying. Here Medick will be cropped to a certain 

 extent and it assumes a very dwarfed habit of growth not 

 unlike wild white clover, except that the leaflets are very broad 

 at the tip with a slight notch (see Fig. 2). The purple spots 

 under such circumstances often do not develop. In this state 

 Spotted ^ledick is by no means easy to detect. It crowds 

 out practically every other plant, and several patches last 



