WEEDS AND WEED SEEDLINGS. 



49 



spudding in grass land be followed by tbe use of sulphate of ammonia — 

 a pinch on the top of each cut dock root — good results will follow, the 

 plants generally dying. In arable land seedling docks may be easily 

 destroyed in hot sunny weather by the free use of the hoe, which should 

 be particularly employed against them in the autumn, about which time 

 the seedlings become established. 



The seedlings of docks have cotyledons which are somewhat longish- 

 oval in shape, dark green in colour, and stalked. The first leaves before 

 opening are characteristically rolled and pointed upward. The young 

 plant is much tinged with red, and the unfolding leaves have broad 

 petioles and show a definite mid-rib. The portion of the stem to which 

 the cotyledons are attached is thickened and thins out downwards to- 

 wards the growing tap root, which assumes its typical shape as the 



[Photo: H. C. Long. 



Fig, 22. — Seedling Docks (Eumex sp.). 



young plant matures (fig. 22). The mature plant bears large oblong- 

 lanceolate leaves on slender stalks. 



Couch Grass is generally recognized as the species Triticum 

 (Agropyrum) repens, but there are several other grasses to which the 

 names Twitch, Squitch, Gouch, &c., are given. Triticum repens 

 is a grass which is easily recognized by the long, strong, exten- 

 sively creeping whitish root stocks, from the nodes or joints of which 

 leaves and flowering stems are sent up (fig. 23). These rootstocks are 

 of the thickness of coarse string or a stout knitting-needle, and broken 

 pieces serve to distribute the pest and give rise to fresh centres of 

 infestation when they are transported. The flowering spike resembles a 

 «pike of wheat, the spikelets being placed flat on the stem but rather 

 widely apart. This at once distinguishes the flowering plant from 

 rye grass, in which the spikelets are set on the stem sideways. , 



VOL. XXXVII. E 



