Am LIBRARY ae ALBERT R. MANN LIBRARY New YorkK STATE COLLEGES OF AGRICULTURE AND Home ECONOMICS AT CoRNELL UNIVERSITY UI ji wot ; 2 BY sar. 'W. 8. BLATCRLEY i New Hark State Callege of Agriculture At Gornell University Ithaca, N. B. Library THe InpiaNA WEED Book ° By W. S. BLATCHLEY Author of ‘‘Gleanings from Nature,’’? ‘‘A Nature Wooitg,’’ ‘‘Boulder Reveries,"* ‘‘Woodland Idyls,’’ ‘“The Coleoptera of Indiana,’’ etc: ‘“Up there came a flower, The people said, a weed.”” —Tennyson. INDIANAPOLIS: THE NATURE PUBLISHING COMPANY 1912. a iy a “Tf I knew Only the herbs and simples of the wood, Itue, cinquefoil, gill, vervain and agrimony, Blue-vetch and trillium, hawkweed, sassafras,' Milkweeds and murky brakes, quaint pipes and sundew, And rare and virtuous roots, which in these woods Draw untold juices from the common earth, Untold, unknown, and I could surely spell Their fragrance, and \their chemistry apply 4 BY: sweet affinities to human flesh, “ Driving the foe and.stablishing, the friend— O, that were much, and I could be a part Of the round day, related to the sun ~! And planted world, and full executor Of their imperfect functions. But these young scholars, who invade our hills, Bold as the engineer who fells the wood, And travelling often in the cut he makes, Love not the flower they. pluck, and know it not, And all their botany is Latin names.”—Hmerson. SB CG I od. i {5 gee rs f- NE 3 Copyright, 1912. By W. S. BuatcHury. @ 20610 ae \“How ineffably vast and how hopelessly infinite is the study of na- ture! If a mere dilletante observer like myself—a saunterer who gathers posies and chronicles butterflies by the wayside for the pure love of them —were to tell even all that he has noticed in passing of the manners and habits of a single weed—of its friends and its enemies, its bidden guests and its dreaded foes, its attractions and its defenses, its little life history and the wider life history of its race—he would fill a whole book up with what he knows about that one little neglected flower; and yet he would have found out after all but a small fraction of all that could be known about it, if all were ever knowable.”’—Grant Alien, PREFACE. “Tough thistles choked the fields and killed the corn, And an unthrifty crop of weeds was borne.’”—Dryden. Long has it been said that ‘‘An ill weed grows apace,’’ yet few are the books that tell us how to check that growth. The wild plants which dwell most closely with us, those with which we are most familiar, are many of them ‘‘weeds,’’ yet of them and their history’ we know but little. Whence came they? How did they get here? What, if any, are their uses? What is their place among other plants in the great scheme of Nature? How can we best control or get rid of them? ‘Those are the questions which we endeavor to answer in this book on Indiana weeds. By the U. S. Department of Agriculture it has been estimated that to crop and meadow lands weeds cause an average annual loss of one dollar per acre. As at least two-thirds of the area of Indiana is comprised of such lands it follows that the annual loss in this State is $15,509,330 from weeds alone. This great loss falls almost wholly upon the farmer. and it is for him, therefore, that this book has been especially written. In the simplest man- ner possible we have endeavored to describe the worst weeds of the State, show their place among other plants and give the most practicable methods for their control or eradication. While the average farmer spends most of his years in fighting weeds, he knows too little about them. A man is not considered much of a carpenter unless he knows the different kinds of lum- ber and the uses to which each can best be put; nor can he be- come much of a printer unless he gets acquainted with the dif- ferent forms of type and learns how hest to set them for the most effective display. Why, then, should not the farmer strive to un- derstand the true character of each of those plants which it is his especial duty to either cultivate or extirpate? The close study of soils, fertilizers, weeds, live stock and other factors of the farm is rapidly raising the science of husbandry to a plane where it is no longer regarded as irksome drudgery, but as one of the highest callings of a free and intellectual people. Just as the old Roman (8) 4 THE INDIANA WEED BOOK. Emperor, Diocletian, was most content while fighting the weeds in his cabbage patch, so all other gardeners and farmers are ‘per- forming man’s noblest duty, when they are endeavoring to make two blades of grass grow where but one has grown before. And especially is this true if that one was only a weed. Not only for the farmers but also for the schools, where the future farmers will be educated, has the book been prepared. A farm-boy and a teacher has the writer been, and knows somewhat, therefore, the needs of both. {| While to the minds of most people weeds and poetry may seem to have little in common, the average boy or girl of 15 or thereabouts delights in an apt quotation, a legend or a bit of history which will illuminate the subject in hand. (A little poetry and folk-lore, therefore, has been added here and there to give a zest to the work. The farmer, if he ‘be a disciple of Gradgrind and so content only with facts, can blow this off as froth and drink in only the more substantial draught which lies below. In this connection we cannot do better than to once again quote Grant Allen, who says: ‘‘Our thoughts about nature are often too largely interwoven with hard technicalities concerning rotate eorollas and pedicellate racemes; and I for my part am not ashamed to confess that I like sometimes to see the dry light of science diversified with some will-o’-the-wisp of pure poetical imag- ination. After all, these things too are themselves matters for the highest science; and that kind of scientific man who cannot recog- nize their use and interest. is himself as yet but a one-sided crea- ture, a chemical or biological Gradgrind, still spelling away at the weak and beggarly elements of knowledge, instead of skimming the great book of nature easily through with a free glance from end to end. Surely there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamed of in Gradgrind’s philosophy !’’ * ‘ * “Wayside songs and meadow blossoms; nothing perfect, nothing rare; Every poet’s ordered garden yields a hundred flowers more fair; Master-singers know a music richer far beyond compare. Yet the reaper in the harvest, ‘mid the burden and the heat, Huis a half remembered ballad, finds the easy cadence sweet— Sees the very blue of heaven in the corn-bloom at his feet.” —Van Dyke. INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, Feb, 20, 1912, ON WEEDS IN GENERAL. From the day that man with a crooked stick first tickled the ground about the roots of some favorite plant which he desired to grow more rapidly, and pulled from around it other plants that it might have a better supply of air, moisture and sunshine—from that dav weeds have existed upon the face of earth. Before that day each and every plant was on an equality, fighting its own battles in its own way, spreading far and wide by rootstocks and seed its kind, evolving year by vear some property, some character which would the better enable it to succeed in the great struggle for existence. But when man for the first time began to domesti- eate certain plants—te help them fight the battle of life—to set off certain areas in which he wished them alone to grow—all plants which were in any way harmful to his plans he called “‘weeds.’’ From that day to this he has had to fight them, and from as far back as the time of Juno—according to old Homer— whenever he begins to get the better of them “Old Earth perceives and from her bosom pours Unbidden herbs and voluntary flowers.” Many of the plants which that first gardener called weeds pos- sessed hidden virtues, properties of excellence, which other men, far down the vista of the years, discovered. These plants they began to cultivate, to utilize. and so removed them from the cate- gory of weeds. Meanwhile some of the first of cultivated plants, when carried to other parts of the earth, have either lost those properties which rendered them useful to man or have, through a change of soil and other environment, become so successful, so aggressive, that they spread and intrude upon the areas set aside for other plants favored by man, and have become the most com- mon of weeds. So the list of weeds is ever changing, some being ,added here, others subtracted there, until it is different in every country, state or nation on earth and is nowhere settled or stable. (5) 6 THE INDIANA WEED BOOK. DEFINITION OF A WEED. As a result of the conditions stated there are many definitions of a weed, among them being: (a) “A plant out of place or growing where it is not wanted.” (b) “A plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered.”—Hmerson. (c) “An herb which is useless or troublesome and without special beauty. (d) “Tobacco.” (c) “A plant which contests with man for the possession of the soil.” (f) “A useless plant growing wild, of sufficient size to be easily no- ticeable and of sufficient abundance to be injurious to the farmer.” (g) “Any injurious, troublesome or unsightly plant that is at the same time useless or comparatively so.” The reader, be he student, teacher, poet or farmer, can choose from the abové definitions or others the one which suits best his own taste, fancy, belief or experience. Suffice it to say that whether a plant is a weed or no depends wholly upon the point of view. Many a plant, which is among the worst of weeds to a farmer, is to the poet or naturalist a flower of surpassing beauty. The list of Indiana weeds which fellows is based upon the standpoint of the farmer, and comprises the 227 of the 2,000 and more plants grow- ing wild in the State* which are thought to be the most harmful to his interests. During its compilation definitions (f) and (q), above given. have been the ones considered. Those plants which have hecome the most common or ‘‘worst weeds’? are those which have been most successful in evolving ‘methods or properties of defending themselves against being de- stroyed by nlant-eating animals; in devising means for ready and rapid cross-fertilization, either by wind or insects, and in provid- ing for themselves effective means of distributing their seeds or other ways-of propagation when the seeds are difficult to ripen. Under the head of the Nettle Family, in the list which follows, are mentioned some of the ways by which plants defend them- selves from browsing animals. The ox-eve daisy and related weeds of the Compositae Family have been most successful in devising methods for fertilization of a large number of flowers in a short time by insects, while the grassés and plantains are adepts in pro- ducing means for wind fertilization. ‘ *OF these, 1,783 are listed in Sianley Coulter’s “Catalogue of the Flowering Plants and Ferns and Their Allies Indigenous to Indiana,” published in 1899. In various papers published since that date in the Proceedings of the Indiana Academy of Science, 177 additional species have been recorded, METIIODS OF WEED SEED MIGRATION. ~} DistRIBUTION Of WEED SEEDS. Our worst weeds are in general those which have devised the most successful ways of distributing their seeds to fields and pas- tures. new, where the competition will not be so great as in the immediate vicinity of the parent plant. Many are the methods used and a number of agents or factors enter into this seed dis- semination, chief among which are wind, water, birds, animals and man, his machinery and methods of commerce. These different methods of seed distribution should be of especial interest to the farmer, for a knowledge of them will often enable him to trace the source of some noxious migratory weed which has appeared upon his land, and will cause him to be on the lookout for it from the same or similar origin. Moreover, some of the factors of seed dis- tribution are partly or wholly under his control, while others, such as water and wind, are wholly beyond his power to lessen. SEEDS CARRIED BY WIND.—The wind is one of the most potent factors in the wide distribution of wced seeds. Many weeds, as those of thistle, dandelion, fireweed, prickly lettuce, etc., have each seed enclosed in a little case to the top of which is joined a tuft of downy hairs, thus enabling them to be lifted and carried several miles by the wind; in the case of the milkweeds the tuft is attached to the seed itself. Some of the grasses have long hairs upon the chaff surrounding the grain, which serves the same purpose, while some of the docks, the actinomeris and others have the seeds or achenes winged or expanded on the sides so that they are easily lifted and borne onward by a passing breeze. (Fig. 1, a and f.) The seeds of many weeds are blown long distances over the surface of snow, ice or frozen ground. The ragweeds, velvet-leaf, docks, pigweeds, chickweed and different weeds of the grass family are examples of those whose seeds are so distributed. Some plants after ripening their seeds are broken off near the ground and rolled over and over by the wind, the seeds dropping off at intervals along the way. These ‘‘tumble-weeds’’ as they are called, include our Indiana weeds known as old-witch grass, Rus- sian thistle, two species of amaranth and the buffalo bur, besides a number of others. SEEDS CARRIED BY WATER.— Water is an important agent in the dispersion of the seeds of many weeds, especially those which grow in flood plains or along the banks of streams. The great ragweed, smartweeds, bindweeds and others depend largely upon the an- nual overflows for the wide spreading of their seeds. The seeds 8 THE INDIANA WEED BOOK. of many weeds growing on uplands are continually being washed down the slopes into lowland soils where many of them germinate and flourish. So long as careless farmers on the higher grounds allow the seeds of noxious weeds to ripen, just so long will the farmers on the lowlands have weed seeds scattered over their fields by countless thousands. Many weeds bearing ripened seeds and growing along the banks of streams are washed bodily into the cur- rent when the banks cave off, aud are carried for miles down stream, finally lodging in bed of silt or bottom tietd, in soil well suited to the future plant. BirDS AS SEED CARRIERS.—T'he berries or seed pods of certain weeds are eaten by birds for the nutriment found in the outer pulp and the hard seeds pass undigested. The nightshades, poison ivy, pokeweed, blackberry and pepper-grass are some weeds whose seeds are thus distributed. The seeds of thistles, ragweeds, dande- lions, knot-grass and other weeds are often eaten in such quantities by sparrows and other birds that many of them are doubtless un- digested and are distributed in new localities. Water birds often carry seeds long distances in mud which has become encased or hardened on their feet. Darwin, in his ‘‘Origin of Species,’’ states that he took in February, 3 tablespoon- fuls of mud from 3 different points beneath water on the edge of a little pond. This mud, when dried, weighed only 63 ounces and in the viscid state was all contained in a breakfast cup. He kept it in his study for six months, pulling up and counting each plant as it grew; the plants were of many kinds and were altogether 537 in number. It is very easy, therefore, for birds to distribute many seeds in this way. A bird also sometimes catches up a sprig of a plant and carries it where the seeds can be eaten without molestation, the act re- sulting in a wide scattering of the seed. ANIMALS AS SEED CARRIERS.—Many weeds have developed spines or small hooks on their seeds or seed vessels by which they become attached to the fur of every passing animal, and especially to the wool of sheep, manes of horses and clothing of man, and are then borne far and wide before being dislodged. Thus we have the burs of burdock, cocklebur and bur-grass; the hooked achenes of the buttereups; the barbed hairs of the fruits or seed vessels of wild carrots; the prickly nutlets of hound’s tongue and beggars’ lice; the bristly pod-joints of the seed-ticks or ‘tick-trefoils and the barbed achenes of the bur-marigolds, beggar-ticks and Spanish needles. The seeds of the mustards, when moistened, exude’a mu- RAILWAYS AS CARRIERS OF WEED SEEDS. 9 cilage which causes them to adhere to every passing object. Live stock taken from one farm or one locality to another often carry many of these seeds or burs in wool, manes or tails, and many a clean farm has from this cause suddenly produced crops of weeds whose origin doubtless puzzled and dismayed the owner. The parts of seeds or fruits which have been evolved as clasping organs are thus seen to be varied in form 4nd structure, but each has enabled the plant to which it belongs to migrate time and again to a new home where it could the better fight the battle of life. MAN AS AN AGENT OF SEED DISTRIBUTION.—The plants which have become the most successful weeds of the farm have had their seeds spread more widely through the agency of man than through all other methods combined. His roads and trails wind everywhere Fig. 1. Ill:strating methods of seed distribution: a, seeds (achenes) of dandelion with pappus attached, several of them still borne on the receptacle: b, fruit of beggar-cicks showing the barbed awns; c and d, burs or fruits of cocklebur and burdock, showing the grappling appendages; e, fruit of wild carrot, showing the clutching spines; f, winged fruit of wafer-ash. (After Kerner and Beal.) through plain and forest; his railway lines bind every State to- gether and connect with steamship lines from across the seas, and along all these avenues of commerce weed seeds are constantly travelling, sometimes as paid passengers in company with grain and other farm seeds, but more often as hoboes in hay, bedding, packing, shipments of fruit, ete. The great east and west trunk lines of railways are responsible for the wide distribution of many a weed, such as the Russian thistle, prickly lettuce, Canada thistle and Texas nettle, which first appear in any locality along a railway. The seeds are carried either in the coats of cattle or sheep, in the hay which supports them on their journey, or in the bedding on the floor of the car. Dropping at intervals all along the line the seeds find excellent 10 THE INDIANA WEED BOOK. beds in the bared soil along the tracks where they sprout and grow until ready. to take another step in advance. The botanist has learned their ways of migration and knows that if he wishes to. find new and interesting species his best pathway will be alongside the railways. Many seeds are introduced in the packing about crates of china or glassware, shipments of nursery stock and in baled hay. Many more are distributed by being mixed with commercial seeds, such as those of clover, wheat; flax and grasses. On his harrows, plows and cultivators the farmer often carries pieces of rootstocks, bulbs, etc, from one. field or farm to another. Perennial weeds such as couch-grass, trumpet-creeper, bouncing bet, bindweed and ox-eye daisy are the ones most generally scat- tered in this manner. Wagons, self-binders and especially thresh- ing machines are responsible for the distribution of many weed seeds which are jostled from them as they pass along the roadways or over the fields from farm to farm. Many a well managed farm often becomes infested with noxious weeds in this way. Barnyard manures, and especially manures hauled from cities and towns where much of the feed-stuffs have heen purchased from a distance, are also active agents in the spread of weed seeds. The above are some of the indirect ways in which man has brought about the wide distribution of noxious weeds. He is also directly responsible for the spread of many weeds by introducing them into his gardens or fields, cultivating them for a time and then allowing them to escape. Such well known weeds as wild garlic, purslane, tansy, bouncing het, oxe-eye daisy, chicory, wild carrot, butter and eggs, catnip and motherwort have been widely spread in this way. Suffice it to say that many of our most com- mon weeds are those which have been introduced directly or in- directly by man into some locality, have there been allowed to grow for a few years in his cultivated fields or under his care, and have thus become acclimated and better adapted for a wide and successful migration throughout the land. Those weeds which are most common and successful in culti- vated fields are in general those wiHich by reason of a quick growth are enabled to produce and ripen an enormous number of seeds. Careful estimates made hy the Towa and Kansas Experimental Stations show. that the number of seeds produced by a single aver- age full grown specimen of 15 of our most common weeds is as follows: WEED ASSOCIATIONS BASED ON ENVIRONMENT. 11 Crab-gtass ........ 0c eee eae 89,600 Velvet Leaf ............00. 31,900 Yellow Foxtail ............ 118,600 Purslane Speedwell ........ 186,300 PIS WC. ba ieee ace desea oe 85,000 Dandelion ............0.008 1,729 Tumble-weed: .............. 14,000 Ragweed soinaesccascen wena 23,100 PURSE: asc: eciesers: sessalerraiataecs oe 69,000 Oocklebur ...... 2. cee eee 9,700 Pepper-grass ............005 12,225 Beggar-ticks ............... 10,500 CHAPIOGIE 5. vise desesacna auarscanioacea ane 9,800 Ox-eye Daisy ...... cece e eee 6,750 Shepherd's Purse .......... 17,600 WEED CoMMUNITIES OR ASSOCIATIONS. Many weeds, like misery, love company. Certain species when they travel go together and settle down in a little community on a tract of land having an environment especially suited to their taste and manner of growth. Thus along roadsides and cow-paths one finds the knot-grass, black medic, wire-grass, dog-fennel, rib- wort and prickly sida; in barnyards the jimson-weed, mother- wort, burdock, catnip, water-pepper and yellow dock; in lawns and country yards the dandelion, common plantain, shepherd’s purse and round-leaved mallow. The most of these are so-called ‘‘social weeds,’’ forming company not only for themselves but for man and accompanying him everywhere in his march across the conti- nent. On the half-barren slopes of old fields there usually occurs a little community made up of the evening primrose, mullen, field sorrel, pennyroyal, cinquefoil, steelweed and ox-eye daisy, with usually a few blackberry briers and a clump of fragrant. everlast- ing to bear them company. In rich soil along the borders of up- land thickets occurs the figwort, ground ivy, blue lettuce, wood nettles and trefoils; in open woodland pastures, the common thistle, iron-weed, actinomeris, pokeweed, hawkweeds and Indian tobacco; on river banks, especially near towns, the white sweet- clover, bouncing bet, teasel, wormseed, milkweed, and prickly let- tuce; while in rich alluvial lowlands grow the great horse-weed, willow aster, cocklebur, bindweed, smartweed and wild sweet po- tato. Numerous other plant associations could be mentioned but the above are more than sufficient to show that weeds are gregarious and that those which have similar tastes tend, like birds of a feather, to flock together. THe Origin oF INDIANA WEEDS. Having noted the various ways in which weeds are distributed over the earth it is not surprising to find that in Indiana the great majority of.our very worst. weeds are aliens from a foreign shore. They are the ones which have succeeded best in crowding out and 12 THE INDIANA WEED BOOK. displacing our wild and cultivated native plants and in taking, if unmolested, complete possession of the soil. Most of these foreign weeds possess that. “ingrained coarseness, scrubbiness, squalor and sordidness, that stringiness of fibre, hairiness of surface or prickly defensive character’? which marks them as masters of the plant world, as weeds par excellence.” Of the 150 species of plants which are hereafter listed as being most harmful to the farmers of the State, 77 are natives of Indiana, that is, indigenous tc her soil, while 73 are introduced species. Of the latter 58 came from Europe, 2 from Asia, 8 from tropical America and 5 from the plains of the Western States. These 150 weeds are grouped in 3 classes. Class I. comprises our worst weeds, those which are fighters from start to finish, not only holding the soil in which they grow but ever striving to gain a hold on new territory. Of the 150, 46 belong to this class, and of the 46, 34 are introduced and only 12 are native to the State. Of the 34 foreign species 27 came from Europe, 2 from Asia, 4 from tropical America and 1 from the West. Class II. comprises those weeds which are less aggressive, but are yet annoying to the farmer and the gardener. All have a weedy character and many of them seem to be waiting only for the proper conditions to arrive before jumping over the line into Class I. This Class is evenly divided, 32 species being introduced and the same number native to the State. Of the 32 outsiders, 24 are from Europe, 4 from tropical America and 4 from the West. To Class JII. belong those weeds which in Indiana occupy for the most part waste farm lands, rarely encroaching upon cultivated fields, or if they do being easily subdued by hoe or scythe. A number of them yield more or less forage for grazing stock, while some are cut for hay when other crops are short. Of the 40 species belonging to this group 33 are native to our soil. while 7 came from Europe. It must be borne in mind that this grouping is only from the view-point of the writer, based upon long observation of the weeds of the State. The reader may, from personal experience, have a widely different opinion as to which class a certain weed should be assigned. Moreover, this grouping refers only to the weeds of Indiana. Some of those in Class III. are doubtless members of Class IT. or even I. in other States, while some of the worst of Class I. may there do little harm. In addition to the 150 weeds listed and described, 77 pee are, in their proper order, mentioned and briefly characterized, LOSSES ENTAILED BY RAISING WEEDS. 13 They are closely related to or sometimes only varieties of those de- scribed, and the differences in habits being small and remedies for eradication practically the same, space was not taken for their more extended mention. Some of them, however, are bad weeds, 9 belonging to Class I., 36 to Class II. and 32 to Class III. Of the 77, 31 are introduced and 46 native to Indiana, 7 of the 9 worst ones being foreigners. If to the 46 worst weeds listed we add the 9 briefly charac- terized, we have in the State 55 of the most aggressive of weeds. Of these 41, or 75 per cent., are of foreign origin. About the same proportion of alien weeds is seen by anyone who travels through the Eastern States. In fact, America seems to be not only the ‘home of the oppressed of all nations’’ but her soil seems to suit exactly those weeds which are the offscourings and refuse of civil- ization in all countries. As Grant Allen has well said: ‘‘In eivi- lized, cultivated and inhabited New England, and as far inland at least as the Mississippi, the prevailing vegetation is the vegetation of Central Europe, and that at its weediest. The daisy, the prim- rose, the cowslip and the daffodil have stayed at home; the weeds have gone to enlonize the New World. For thistles and burdock, dog-fennel and dead-nettle, hound’s tongue and stick-seed, catnip and dandelion, ox-eye daisy and cocklebur, America, easily licks all creation. All the dusty, noisome and malodorous pests of all the world seem there to revel in one grand congenial democratic-orgy.’’ How WeeEps LESSEN THE OUTPUT OF THE Farm. The greatest question on earth to-day is, How long will the soil feed the human race? Any factor which will serve to increase that time, even in small degree, is of great economic importance. The population of Indiana is ever increasing. The number of acres of land within her bounds will be the same as long as those bounds remain as they are. To increase the output of the land and make the gain in vield of farm products to some extent keep pace with the increase in population is at present the leading problem which the more intelligent farmers of the State are trying to solve. One of the greatest factors in this problem is that of weeds. It is a self-evident fact that in all parts of the State they are in many. wavs a source of constant and heavy loss in the out- put of the farm. Some of these ways are briefly set forth in the following paragraphs: a. They rob the soil of much of that plant food so necessary to the proper growth of cultivated crops. As a single example of 14 THE INDIANA WEED BOOK. this robbery it has been shown by the Massachusetts. Experiment Station that. ‘‘one ton of ox-eye daisy withdraws from: the soil 25 pounds of potash, 8.7 pounds of phosphoric acid, 22 pounds of nitrogen and 26 pounds of lime. To restore the stated amounts of the first. three constituents to the soil it would be necessary to apply about 50 pounds of muriate of potash, 65 pounds of super- phosphate and 140 pounds of nitrate of soda.’’* It. will thus be seen that this, as well as all other weeds, feed upon precisely the same foods as do wheat, corn and other cereal crops. They de- prive the crop with which they grow, or one which will come after it, of exactly the same amount of plant food as they withdraw, Fig..2. Mixture of weed seeds commonly found in low-grade alsike clover seed: a, alsike clover; b, white clover; ¢, red clover; d, yellow sweet-clover; e, Canada tbistle; f, dock; 9, field sorrel; h, buckhorn; i, rat- tail plantain; &, lamb's-quarters; J, sheplierd’s purse; m, dog-fennel; 7, acentless. camomile; 0, white, campion; p, night-flowering catch-fly; g, ox-eye daisy; r, small-fruited false flax; s, cinquefoil; ¢, two kinds of pepper- grass; u, catnip; », timothy; 2, chickweed; y, Canada blue-grass; z, clover dodder; 1, mouse-ear. chickweed; 2, knot-grass; 3, tumbling pigweed; 4, rough pigweed; 4, heal-all; 6, lady's thumb. (After Hillman.) and if allowed to grow with other crops will take their due pro- portion of any fertilizer that may be applied. b. They rob the soil of moisture which they waste by evapora- tion, thus increasing the evil effects of droughts. c. They crowd out and shade cultivated plants, thus greatly decreasing the vield of the latter. Most weeds have better. devel- oped roots which penetrate to a greater depth than those of the plants with which they grow. ‘They therefore gather food: and moisture more readily and usually soon out-top many crops, shutting ont the sunlight so necessary to perfect maturity of the cultivated plants. "Tar. Bull. No. 103, WEEDS POISONOUS TO STOCK AND CHILDREN. 15 d. ‘They inerease the cost of any crop not only by taking the time of labor to keep them in subjection, but by retarding, espe- cially in cereal crops, the work of preparing the ground, seeding, harvesting, threshing, cleaning the grain and marketing the out- put. e. They cause a greater wear and tear on farm machinery, especially mowers, binders and threshing machines, often causing them to clog and break. : f. They frequently necessitate an unprofitable change in the rotation of crops, causing the farmer to produce some crop of little profit in order the more quickly to get rid of a certain weed. g- Some weeds such as corn cockle and wild garlic are espe- cially injurious to wheat, as when ground with it they render the flour poisonous and unpalatable. Others, as buckhorn, dodder and field sorrel, produce seeds which are very difficult to separate from the seeds of clover, thus greatly increasing the cost of the latter. h. Very few weeds furnish pasture or food for stock and some of them, as the water hemlock, sneezeweed, ete., are very poison- ous when eaten by them. The burs of others are very annoying in wool, the manes of horses or the tails of horses and cattle. 4. Weeds such as the nightshades, water hemlock, bitter sweet, pokeweed, jimson, etc., often cause the death or serious illness of children. j. Many weeds furnish food or hibernating places for injurious insects. Examine carefully the winter rosettes or root-leaves of a mullen, or note the melon lice on shepherd’s purse and pepper- grass, and be convinced. Others are propagating plants for rusts and mildews which attack vegetables and small grains of many kinds. k. Finally most weeds are unsightly objects, being at some or all stages of their existence cyesores whose presence not only in- dicates a negligent and slovenly farmer but damages the appear- ance and lessens the value of any land which he may wish to sell. BENEFITS OF WEEDS. To the practical farmer, who delights in a highly productive and clean farm, weeds offer apparently little of value to offset their many disadvantages. Yet they possess some virtues and are not to be considered wholly as enemies. When plowed under they of course add some humus and fer- tility to the soil, while if allowed to grow after a crop has been harvested they shade the ground thus conserving many forms of 16 THE INDIANA WEED BOOK. plant food. Their greatest benefit, however, lies in the fact that they induce frequent and thorough cultivation of the soil, thus increasing largely the output of any crop which may be grown. On this point L. H. Bailey maintains: ‘‘That weeds always have been and still are the closest friends and helpmates of the farmer. It was they which first taught the lesson of the tillage of the soil, and it is they which never allow the lesson, now that it has been partly learned, to be forgotten. The one only and sovereign rem- edy for them is the very tillage which they have introduced. When their mission is finally matured, therefore, they will disappear, be- cause there will be no place in which they can grow. It would be a great calamity if they were now to disappear from the earth, for the greater number of farmers still need the discipline which they enforce. Probably not one farmer in ten would till his lands well if it were not for these painstaking schoolmasters, and many of them would not till at all. Until farmers till for tillage’s sake, and not to kill the weeds, it is necessary that the weeds shall exist, . but when farmers do till for tillage’s sake, then weeds will dis- appear with no effort of ours.”’ Tur WEEDS OF CITIES AND TOWNS. Weeds are not only a curse to the farmer but the city resident is also greatly troubled with them. Many an hour does he spend on his lawns, grubbing dandelions and other pests which are fight- ing the blue-grass, while in his alleys and backyards many an un- sightly species is constantly attempting to grow and ripen its seeds. In all cities, and especially in and about country towns, there are numerous vacant lots-and commons which each year pro- duce nothing but a big crop of the vilest of weeds. The largest patch of Canada thistle which the writer ever saw was on one of these waste places in the city of Indianapolis. Prickly lettuce and sow-thistles, cockleburs and horse-weed, burdock and bull thistles, spiny amaranth and pigweed, dog-fennel and Mexican tea, sweet- clovers and wild mustard, jimson-weeds and wild carrots grow rankly on these lots and form dense thickets through which a per- son can scarcely force his way. Being for the most part level these city or town lots have at some time been cultivated and the orig- inal growth of grass and trees removed, leaving a surface excel- lently adapted to these worst of migratory weeds. Their seeds are introduced in many ways, more easily indeed than in the open country, for here rubbish of all kinds. is dumped, such as bedding from stables and stock cars, packing from about china and glass- WEEDS OF CITIES AND TOWNS. “17 ware, sweepings from elevators and grain stores and refuse from kitchens. In many instances the lots are low and the owners have them filled with the material mentioned, thus furnishing an excel- lent seed bed already planted for many a weed. Oftentimes these weed patchs are wholly or partly surrounded by high bill-boards, thus hiding the weeds from sight and allowing them to flourish without molestation. These city and town weeds, as long as growing vigorously, are somewhat beneficial in that they serve to purify the air by using carbonic acid gas and throwing off oxygen. As soon as they die, however, they begin to decay and reverse this process, absorbing the oxygen and throwing off the gas, and should be at once mowed and removed. They gather dust and harbor bacteria and various injurious fungi; shade the soil and keep it damp and sour; while - certain species produce great quantities of pollen which is often _. very irritating. Growing as they do where many children congre- gate, the poisonous species, such as pokeweed, nightshade and jim- son are very apt to be eaten. The three-leaved ivy, with its at- tractive foliage and poisonous juices or exhalations, often occurs along the borders of these city lots and causes blisters on the skin of many a youngster. Instead of raising noxious weeds these vacant lots should be put to more important uses. In most of the cities and larger towns there are many poor people who would be glad to utilize . them for gardens. Such use would not depreciate their value for building purposes and would greatly lessen the cost of living of the needy and the amount necessarily bestowed in charity upon them. In many places the weeds and rubbish can be removed at a small cost, the surface leveled and sown to some perennial grass, and the plot then used as a’playground for children. Such play- grounds are always welcomed in the crowded portions of the larger cities, where open places for that romping and running so dear to a child’s heart and so necessary to its health, are often few or absent. CLASSIFICATION OF WEEDS AccorpING TO LirE PERIOD. Weeds, like other plants, are grouped, according to the length of time they live, into three classes, viz., annuals, biennials and perennials. ANNUALS.—An annual weed is one that rounds out its cycle of existence within a single year. Of these there are two sub- classes, ordinary or ‘‘summer annuals’’ and ‘“‘winter annuals.’’ [2] 18 ; THE INDIANA WEED BOOK. Ordinary annuals spring from the seed in spring, mature, blossom and ripen their seeds before the frosts of autumn. Ragweed, fox- tail, purslane and crab-grass are 4 of our worst weeds which are examples of this group. As a rule these summer annuals have small fibrous roots and produce many seeds. Winter annuals spring from the seed in late summer or au- tumn, produce a growth of root-leaves before the ground is thoroughly frozen, then in carly spring send up a flower-stalk and ripen their seeds usually by May or June. Shepherd’s purse, pepper-grass, white-top and prickly lettuce are among our worst of winter annuals, while winter wheat and rye are cultivated ex- amples. Some of these weeds are both winter and summer an- nuals, a part of the seed germinating in the spring and the flowers appearing much later in the season than those of the same species from the.winter annuals. : In dealing with annual weeds the one general and obvious method is to destroy them in some manner before their seeds ripen. This can best be done by mowing, pulling, cutting with the hoe or smothering with the cultivator. If this be kept up for a few years and the work thoroughly done they will be completed eradi- cated from a farm. They would all be destroyed the first season were it not for the fact that the seeds of many species possess great vitality and often remain in the ground for years without impairing their power of growth. When brought close enough to the surface, if the conditions of moisture and temperature are right, they usually sprout at once. Any method of cultivation, especially in late fall or early spring, which will cause these buried seeds te germinate will thus go far towards getting rid of annual weeds, provided, of course, the young ones are killed as they ap- pear. The voung plants of ragweed, wild mustard, lamb’s quar- ters, black bindweed and many other annuals are easily uprooted and killed by harrowing in autumn the growing crop of wheat, oats or rye with a light slope-tocthed harrow. After the crop is well up, and there is no danger of covering the blades too deeply, few if anv grain plants will be dragged out if the work is done when the land is in proper condition for harrowing BIENNTALS.—A biennial is a two-year plant, that is, one which springs from a seed and spends the first season in storing up a supply of nourishment in a large root or tuber, this heing used the second season in promoting a rapid growth and producing flowers and seeds. Among our worst biennial weeds are the com- mon thistle, wild carrot, mullen, burdock and hound’s tongue. Bi- THE USE OF THE SPUD, 19 ennials grow for the most part along roadsides, borders of fields and in pastures, as their roots will not withstand thorough culti- vation. Any method of destroying the root or the top of the plant be- fore the seeds ripen will eventually get rid of this class of weeds in cultivated. ground.