848 Aimual Re})Oii for 1891 vf the Cunsultiiuj BotanisL 
But the action of ergot on the involuntary muscles of the uterus in 
the advanced stages of pregnancy is speedy. The influence of the 
ergot on the involuntary muscles of the arteries, which causes gan- 
grene, may be cumulative, but it certainly is not so in abortion. If 
ergot be the cause, it must be due to a sufficient quantity being 
taken with the food a short time before the abortion takes place. 
And it is evident this could not have been the case in the instances 
that have been investigated by me during the past year. 
Weeds. 
Inquiries have been made as to getting rid of Yorkshire fog, 
which abounds in so many pastures. This is a very difficult matter. 
Yorkshire fog is a perennial grass, and consequently retains irs hold 
on tlie soil ; being usually rejected by stock it fruits freely, and the 
seeds, protected as they are by a hard covering, are preserved from 
injury, and wlien attached to the chaff are easily spread by tlie 
wind. The result is that, where 'it exists in a pasture, it not only 
maintains its place, but increases, so that the bulk of some pasture 
and hay-helds consist of this grass. On rich soils, and where it has 
been well manured, it is eaten ; otherwise it is rejected, unless when 
hunger and the want of otlier food compels the .stock to eat it. 
Several applications have been made as to the presence of garlic 
in crops. The diil'erent .species of Allium liave a fcctid and pungent 
odour ; when eaten by .stock this odour is communicated to milk, 
cream, and cheese, and e\ en the eggs of fowls which ha\ e picked up 
the .seeds in the fields arc allected l)y it. The garlic appears in pas- 
tui-es in the lirst part of the year, sometimes in great abundance. 
After midsummer the weed has completed its year's life, and witheis 
up, so that the pasture may be eaten without injury. But when 
hay is cut early from a meadow containing garlic, the result is 
the same as Avhen the stock eat it in the pasture. These plants are 
perennial ; the small bulbs, filled with a store of food which enables 
the plant to grow vigorously in the spring, present the great diffi- 
culty in getting rid of it. Any fragment of the bulb left in the 
ground when an ;ittcmpt is made to get rid of them by digging theui 
up may produce a new plant. I have suggc^sted hand pulling as 
soon as the leaves appeal', and continuing this throughout th^ grow- 
ing season. This would exhaust the bulb, and though some of the 
plants would appear the following year, they would be weaker, and 
being again pulled this would probably destroy the garlic altogether. 
Some lields in the neighbourliood of Bruton, Somerset, planted 
in wheat, showed a luxuriant crop of garlic, the seeds of which, being 
collected with the wheat crop, imparted their taste and odour to the 
flower, and rendei'ed the wheat unsaleable. 
Injuries by Parasitic Fungi. 
A fleld of clover in Northamptonshire, which looked well in the 
end of March, began to die off from an attack of Peronoapom trij'oUi, 
