The Roswell daily record. [volume] (Roswell, N.M.) 1903-current, 1907-07-25
Some Most Serious Weed Pests
Alfalfa Fields Under IRRIGATION.

Alfalfa Fields Under Irrigation.
A weed is a plant out of place and
persists in growing where not desired.
Some few weeds are appearing in
our alfalfa fields and not only reduce
the market value of the hay, but it
threatens to spread to the entire farm
Attention should be called to these
weed pests so farmers will observe
them and e more generally to fight
them.
1. Our first one is White Sweet
Glover (M~elilotus aIba). Sweet clover
is a biennial n alfalfa a perennial
plant. The leaf of sweet clover is di-
vided into three leaflets, flowers borne
in a rather close cluster or head, seed
pod straight, and alfalfa Sec pod coil
ed, usually in 2 to 3 turns. The sweet
clover pod contains one and alfalfa
four to five seeds. White sweet clover
has an erect, bushylike growth rang
While the blossoms OF sweet clover
are quite fragrant, containing a honey
like nectar, the foliage, When grown,
has a bitter acid taste not relished by
stock.
2. Yellow Sweet Glover (MeliIotus
o~ficinalis) is, within the last few
years getting into our alfalfa fields
and along our ditch banks. 1t has a
narrower lea than the white blossom
ed variety II has a recumbent grow
TIA, so that the lowest cut of the NOW
er or even the scythe will not always
clip off all the stems permitting some
! seeds to form. Since they multiply a
thousand fold, they propagate very ra-
pidly, and almost before one can real
ize it the field is teeming with this
yellow peril.
3. yellow Trefoil Medicago lupu-
as yet, but it is being brought in with
alfalfa seed, and may become a most
seriCus weed pest. The yellow ire
foil plant grows bout the same height
as alfalfa. The leaf is divided int
leaflets similar to alfalfa, but are shor
ter and broader, more like a clover
leaf. Blossoms are born in clustered
racemes, are somewhat smaller than
alfalfa and a clear yellow when the
alfalfa bloom is purple. 1t is the hop
like cluster of the blossoms which
causes some people to call this plant
hop-clover.
4. Prickly Lettuce (Lacenca scar
iola). This is an erect annual, usually
from 2 to 6 feet high. The lower por-
tioa of the stem has stiff bristIes.
The leaves are mrdium long, with not
ched Or toothed margains and mid
rib beset with weak prickles. The
seeds are carried long distances by
the wind and also by our irrigation
waters. Dewey states that one plant
mas been known to bear 5000 seeds.
s.. Dodder (Cuscuta e~pithymum.)
This is a most pernicious parasite
feeding upon alfalfa or clover. Dr..
Pammel of the Iowa Experiment Sta
ton, gives the following racy descrip-
| ton in Bulletin No. 20, weeds in
Iowa" The dodders are ~leafIess, ex-
cepting the small scales on the
stems; herbs Of yellowish color, with
IuEtdullhe Sb6HIS GNluIlS dIplllu Lie
plants upon which they live They
pierce the bark Cor epidermis or host)
with small and short r%ootlets. which
are called suckers. The seeds are
small terminates in the soil and grow
sufficiently in length 10 allow plants
to come in contact with the plant up
on which it lives, when 1t immediate
ly sends in its suckers and anus be
comes established upon the plant as
though it was a part of Ia host. The
dodder contains no chlorD hy1l, the
green colorinE matter found in leaves
and hence cannot make Plant food
Fortunately for Colorado. dodder is
not found in many alfalfa eflds of the
state, and it is to be hoped we can