Canadian Afjricultuve. 
253 
property, after being notified by the town clerk. Unoccupied 
lands are cleared of weeds by the overseer or pathmaster, and 
the owner is bound to pay such expenses as are thereby in- 
curred. The overseers or pathmasters are subject to the control 
of one or more inspectors of noxious weeds appointed by the 
Minister. Seed merchants are not exempt from the law, for it 
is enacted that any person who vends for seed purposes any 
grain, grass, or other seed among which there is any seed of 
wild mustard, wild oats, or Canada thistles, shall be liable to 
a fine of not less than 2/., nor more than 20/. Wild mustard, I 
may observe, is identical with the charlock of arable lands in 
England, and this weed-pest was introduced into Canada from 
Europe, and is there finding its way into all cultivated lands. 
The Canada thistle, Carduus arvensis, is, despite its name, 
another naturalised plant which has become a pestilent weed on 
all badly cultivated farms, and in Ontario it renders some of 
the country roads almost impassable in summer ; it is a common 
weed in England, growing to a height of from two to four feet, 
and distinguished by its dingy purple flowers and more or less 
cottony stem. The term " wild oats " is vague, and probably 
includes several objectionable grasses, of which Avena fatua 
may possibly be one ; on the western prairies, however, the name 
is given to one of the most valued of the buffalo grasses. 
Last summer the Department of Agriculture of Manitoba 
issued a monthly Crop Bulletin, embodying a summary of the 
reports returned to the Department in accordance with a regu- 
lation already referred to. These bulletins, which are highly 
creditable productions, are prepared by the Deputy Minister, 
Mr. Acton Burrows, and addressed by him to the Minister of 
Agriculture, Statistics, and Health, at present the Hon. A. A. C. 
La Riviere, M.P.P. Each bulletin opens with a report on the 
weather, embracing a series of observations on the meteorology 
of the preceding month. This is followed by reports on the 
progress and prospects of field crops, given under such heads as 
wheat, oats, barley, potatoes, field roots, hay, general prospects, 
with notes on pests and noxious weeds, succeeded by reports on 
live-stock, under the heads of horses, cattle, sheep, pigs, and 
poultry ; and further information is given on such subjects as 
wild bees, labour, prairie fires and timber. The bulletin is 
usually supplemented with a summary of the agricultural 
prospects in the United States and the United Kingdom. In 
the circulars sent out by the Department, and from the replies 
to which the bulletin is made up, correspondents are asked to 
describe the weather, mentioning generally the rainfall, tempe- 
rature, &c., and suitability for growth and harvest ; to state 
generally the quality of the hay crop, and the condition in 
