26 



A Common Weed — The Poppy. [april, 



wheat. From the second week onwards the barley meal is 

 mixed with cooked, minced river fish (not gutted or scaled), 

 on which the birds thrive excellently. At the age of 5-6 

 weeks they reach a weight of 1— 1 Jib. and are ready for killing, 

 when they are taken away alive by dealers. It is noted that 

 the efforts to introduce this industry into other parts of the 

 Duchy have not met with much success. 



A COMMON WEED— THE POPPY. 



Several very similar species of plants belonging to the 

 genus Papaver, of the botanical order Papaveracece. and 

 generally included in the term Red or Scarlet Poppy, are 

 among the most common weeds of cornfields in many parts 

 of the country. Thus in parts of Sussex, the cornfields may 

 be seen from afar to be carrying large crops of "Red Weed," 

 as it is termed; in parts of Lincolnshire also poppies are a 

 great scourge, while so prolific are they in Norfolk that the dis- 

 trict around Cromer has received the name of "Poppyland." 

 In passing through a corn-growing district where poppies 

 abound nothing is more striking and picturesque during 

 the months from June to August than the scarlet-covered 

 acres, but all who are acquainted with the harm done by an 

 excess of weeds will appreciate the loss which a poppy-infested 

 corn crop must suffer. The seeds, however, are so numerous 

 and so easily spread that it is almost impossible to keep one 

 farm in a poppy district clean if other farms are neglected. 



Description. — There are four species of Papaver which may 

 be said to be established in Great Britain : — P. Rhceas, L., 

 P. dubium, L., P. Argemone, L., and P. hybridum, L., 

 while P. somniferum, L., the Opium Poppy, is an occasional 

 escape from cultivation. Of the foregoing species, P. Rhceas 

 and P. dubium are the most widespread, and are those most 

 commonly occurring in cornfields, and will therefore alone be 

 dealt with here. 



Both of these species are erect annual weeds, attaining one 

 to two or more feet in height. They have deep tap roots and 

 branched hairy stems and flower-stalks, the hairs in P. Rhceas 

 spreading outward from the flower-stalk, but in P. dubium 

 pressed close to it. The leaves are pinnatifid or "feathered," 



