* 264 
left untouched. At the close of the season, on Oct. 13, the whole | 
plat was cleared, and the individual plants of each kind counted. 
The table shows the result. At the time of the first counting the 
pigeon grass had mostly headed, while the foxtail grass, which so 
much resembles it as not to be readily distinguished by the common 
field laborer, was still small. At the last counting there was little 
of the former present, and on account of the difficulty of separation 
it was all counted in as foxtail. 
By looking at the totals it will be seen that nearly nine thousand 
individual weeds grew on this small piece of ground during the sea- 
-son. As the majority of these were enabled to reach an ample de- 
velopment, the number of seeds produced, when estimated by the 
tables given by Lazenby,* Sturtevantt and other observers, is 
so enormous as to form a sufficiently startling commentary on toler- 
ating weeds in waste corners. But half of this number was Canada 
thistles—if we subtract these the totals will stand as follows: 
All weeds. Can. thistles. Other weeds 

Ocha north Hats dawn Ao 4065 s— | 2060 = 2005 
Cbs, ABOU UO) PA wee cee Pe ee 1924. — 270 = 1654 
Dh tice ioe wabig a) OO dks 5989 — 2330 os 3659 
LBie Wgeedies. ccvecampprct Sura 5, ust et 2 28387 — 2050 — 787 
GT AL fo blend aeot se 3 8826 — 4880 = 4446 
A striking indication of the commonness of the plants of this list 
is the fact that three fourths of the forty-five species enumerated 
bear the names given them by Linneus, the ‘‘ father of botany,” 
and part of the others were originally named by him, the names hay- 
ing been changed since. It is a somewhat different list, however, 
from what one would obtain on ground kept under the plow for a 
number of years. Such plants as three-seeded mercury, anemone, 
aster, St. John’s-wort, sumach, raspberry, golden-rod and the clovers 
are not usually counted among the weeds of hoed ground, while such 
universal and noxious weeds as purslane, May-weed, chick-weed, 
mustard, pepper-grass, carpet-weed, cockle-bur, etc. are conspicuous- 
ly absent. In the usual garden soil there would undoubtedly have 
been more individuals, making it necessary to count and remove the 
larger ones several times during the season, in order to give alla 
fair chance to grow. ‘The observation, in fact, very well represents 
the luxuriance and kind of vegetation of the borders of fields, hedge- - 
rows, neglected corners and similar adjuncts of cultivated ground, 
which too often are permitted to go undisturbed, unless to be mown 
in autumn because of their unsightliness, and in this connection it 
conveys an admonition of no uncertain note. 
The help from parasitic fungi, which the cultivator receives in 
keeping weeds in check, is not as a usual thing well recognized, and 
yet is worthy of attention. It is rare that any of these parasites are 
sufficiently aggressive to exterminate a weed even in a limited local- 

*Third An. Rep. Ohio Agr. Exper. Station, p. 158. 
+First An. Rep. N. Y. Agric. Exper. Station, p. 86. 

