Seeds of Michigan Weeds.

by W. J. (William James) Beal.

SUB-STATIONS.

Chatham, Alger County, 160 acres deeded--Leo M. Geismar in charge.

Grayling, Crawford County, 80 acres deeded.

South Haven, Van Buren County, 10 acres rented; 5 acres deeded--Frank A. Wilkin in charge.

The designer of this bulletin first had in mind something of the sort for the use of his students, not only the undergraduates, but others living on farms, or teaching in Michigan and elsewhere. Whoever grows seeds to sell, or buys seeds to sow, should be benefited by consulting the ill.u.s.trations which are unsurpa.s.sed for accuracy by anything in this country. They were all made by Mr. F. H. Hillman. A hand lens costing from twenty cents to a dollar is almost indispensable in examining our seeds. The brief descriptions are necessarily made by using definite scientific terms, which are explained in a glossary at the close of the work. A few weeds are not ill.u.s.trated, for the reason that the plants have ceased to produce seeds, such as the horse radish, and some of them are not conspicuously bad. Not far from half the ill.u.s.trations are made from small seed-like fruits, likely to be mistaken for seeds, such as are produced by dandelions, burdocks, narrow-leaved dock, all gra.s.ses.

Cuts of seeds of several clovers are inserted that students may learn to distinguished them from weeds too often mixed with them.

No apology is offered for making use of the decimal scale instead of the c.u.mbersome antiquated English scale, which fortunately is gradually growing out of use. In the back part of the bulletin are duplicate copies of the decimal scale that any one can cut out and use for measuring.

For copies of the following figures some time ago prepared by Mr.

Hillman, we are indebted to the authorities of the Agricultural College, of Reno, Nevada: 7, 11, 12, 16, 17, 23, 24, 31, 32, 34, 35, 36, 37, 39, 40, 41, 42, 44, 46, 55, 56, 58, 63, 68, 69, 71, 74, 75, 84, 86, 87, 91, 92, 95, 97, 98, 99, 108, 110, 116, 125, 130, 135, 138, 140, 144, 146, 152, 153, 158, 159, 172, 173, 174, 175, 178, 179, 181, 182, 185, 187, 189, 190, 191, 199, 203, 205, 212, 214, 215.

"A weed is any useless or troublesome plant."

"A plant out of place or growing where it is not wanted."

"Tobacco."

"A plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered."--Emerson.

Weeds everywhere; they thrive in the cornfield, they choke wheat in the field, they annoy the gardner, they thrive in the meadow, they spring up by the roadside, they encroach on the swamp, they damage the fleeces of sheep. The rapid increase in the number and variety of weeds should cause alarm.

DISADVANTAGES OF WEEDS.

1. They rob cultivated plants of nutriment.

2. They injure crops by crowding and shading.

3. They r.e.t.a.r.d the work of harvesting grain by increasing the draft and by extra wear of machinery. (Bindweed, thistles, red root.)

4. They r.e.t.a.r.d the drying of grain and hay.

5. They increase the labor of threshing, and make cleaning of seed difficult.

6. They damage the quality of flour, sometimes making it nearly worthless. (Allium vineale L.)

7. Most of them are of little value as food for domestic animals.

8. Some weeds injure stock by means of barbed awns. (Squirrel tail gra.s.s, wild oats, porcupine gra.s.s.)

9. Some of them injure wool and disfigure the tails of cattle, the manes and tails of horses. (Burdock, c.o.c.klebur, houndstongue.)

10. A few make "Hair b.a.l.l.s" in the stomachs of horses. (Rabbit-foot clover, crimson clover.)

11. Some injure the quality of dairy products. (Leeks, wild onions.)

12. Penny cress, and probably others, when eaten by animals, injure the taste of meat.

13. Poison hemlock, spotted cowbane and Jamestown weed are very poisonous.

14. Many weeds interfere with a rotation of crops.

15. All weeds damage the appearance of a farm and render it less valuable. (Quack-gra.s.s, Canada thistle, plantains.)

SOME SMALL BENEFITS.

1. They are of some use in the world to induce more frequent and more thorough cultivation, which benefits crops.

2. The new arrival of a weed of first rank stimulates watchfulness.

(Russian thistle.)

3. In occupying the soil after a crop has been removed they prevent the loss of fertility by shading the ground.

4. Weeds plowed under add some humus and fertility to the soil, though in a very much less degree than clover or cow peas.

5. Some of them furnish food for birds in winter.

WHAT ENABLES A PLANT TO BECOME A WEED.

1. Sometimes by producing an enormous number of weeds. (A large plant of purslane, 1,250,000 seeds; a patch of daisy fleabane, 3,000 to a square inch.)

2. In other cases by the great vitality of their seeds. Shepherd's purse, mustard, purslane, pigeon-gra.s.s, pigweeds, pepper-gra.s.s, May weed, evening primrose, smart weed, narrow-leaved dock, two chick-weeds survive when buried in the soil thirty years at least, as I have found by actual test.

3. In each p.r.i.c.kly fruit of a c.o.c.klebur there are two seeds, only one of which grows the first year, the other surviving to grow the second year.

4. Some are very succulent, and ripen seeds even when pulled.

(Purslane.)

5. Often by ripening and scattering seeds before the cultivated crop is mature. (Red root, fleabane.)

6. Sometimes by ripening seeds at the time of harvesting a crop, when all are harvested together. (Chess, c.o.c.kle.)

7. Some seeds are difficult to separate from seeds of the crop cultivated. (Sorrel, mustard, narrow-leaved plantain in seeds of red clover and alfalfa.)

8. Some are very small and escape notice. (Mullein, fleabane.)

9. Some plants go to seed long before suspected, as no showy flowers announce the time of bloom. (Pigweeds.)

10. In a few cases the plants break loose from the soil when mature and become tumble-weeds. (Some pigweeds, Russian thistle.)

11. Some seeds and seed-like fruits are furnished each with a balloon, or a sail, or with grappling hooks. (Dandelion, sticktights, burdock.)