122         WEEDS  OF  WESTERN  PEPPERMINT  PLANTATIONS. 
"  You  have  named  the  usual  course  of  the  weed  in  our  mint 
fields,*  except  that  the  fourth  year  plowing,  to  continue  the  mint 
and  kill  the  weed,  is  not  now  practiced  here. 
''The  'June  grass  '  (a  veritable  grass,  but  I  have  no  means 
just  now  of  giving  you  the  botanical  name),  as  also  stated,  some- 
times grows  in  mint,  but  I  think  this  grass  yields  very  little  dis- 
tilled matter.  I  cut  a  field  of  third  year  mint  this  season  that 
had  grown  largely  to  both  red  and  white  clover,  but  I  think  the 
clovers  yielded  very  little,  if  any,  to  the  distillation.  On  the 
other  hand,  Erigeron  yields  about  twice  what  the  same  bulk  of 
mint  usually  does  (or  did  so  for  me  this  year,  which  has  not  been 
so  favorable  for  large  yield  of  mint  according  to  bulk,  though 
the  season  has  been  favorable  for  a  large  growth).  The  growth 
of  the  clovers  and  grass  in  the  mint  may  be  said  to  be  occasionaL 
Besides  these,  I  have  seen  horse-sorrelf  attaining  a  thrifty  growth 
with  mint,  and  I  have  seen  ragweed  (Roman  wormwood)  growing 
in  it,  and  one  field  was  grown  over  with  young  shoots  of  sassafras 
(which  last  must  produce  a  good  deal  of  adulteration  in  the  oil) ; 
but  these  may  be  said  to  be  seldom. 
'^Erechthites  is  to  be  found  in  mint  fields,  but  only  on  new 
lands  or  those  never  before  cropped  ;  and  in  such  fields  it  is  to 
be  found  in  the  first  year's  mint,  about  stumps,  rough  places, 
and  in  patches  where  brush,  &c.,  were  burned  in  clearing.  I 
presume  Erechthites  grows  some  the  second  and  following  years 
also,  but  have  not  not  iced. X  It  might  be  supposed  that  the  tilling 
would  keep  these  down  the  first  year,  as  Erigeron  is  kept  down 
the  first  year  in  old  lands  ;  but  it  is  to  be  understood  that  farm- 
ers favor  new  lands  in  the  openings  for  mint,  as  they  need  but 
comparatively  little  tillage  for  it,  Erechthites  being  the  princi- 
pal weed  to  grow  (and  that  where  wood  has  been  burnt).  But 
the  harvesting  of  the  first  crop  of  mint  being  unlike  that  of  the 
following  crops,  better  opportunity  to  reject  the  Erechthites  is 
*  After  Mr.  Stearns'  paper  quoted  above. — M. 
t  Query  :  Oxalis  stricta  or  Rumex  acetosella  ? — M. 
$This  observation  is  undoubtedly  correct,  since  Erechthites  does  not 
inhabit  cultivated  or  open  fields  ;  its  occurrence  in  mint  fields  during  the 
second  year  must  be  very  rare,  and  it  probably  never  grows  in  these  fields 
afterwards,  unless  in  close  proximity  to  partly  burned  stumps. — M. 
