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81

HEC 2 1191

MAR 1 9 i9b4

; DEC i 0 198&

perTTOw^^

WEEDS

AND

HOW TO ERADICATE THEM

BY

THOMAS SHAW

Formerly Professor of Agriculture in the Ontario Agricultural
College, Guelph, Ontario.

THIRD EDITION

(REVISED)

COPYRIGHT. 1911

BY

THE WEBB PUBLISHING CO.

PREFACE.

The aggregate of loss to the farmer
resulting from the extent to which weeds
prevail on the average farm is very great.
It is equally true that such loss could in a
great measure be prevented. That it is
not prevented is due not so much to indif-
ference on the part of the farmer as to
the extent to which the presence of weeds
will be tolerated, as to a lack of informa-
tion with reference to the most eftective
methods of fighting them. This book has
been written in the hope that it will in
some measure supply this need. In this,
the third edition, several weeds are included
in the discussion that are not considered in
the previous editions. Aluch has also been
added with reference to efifective methods
of eradication based upon recent experi-
mentation.

The author wishes to acknowledge his
indebtedness to Hon. Geo. M<S^*i'^f5^^^

Commissioner of the Dominion of Canada,
for the use of certain cuts contained in
this book, which are reproduced from
"Farm Weeds of Canada," and to Profes-
sor H. L. Bolley of the North Dakota
Experiment Station for the ilkistration of
spraying machinery.

THOMAS SHAW.

St. Paul, Minn., Feb. 2, 191 1.

CONTENTS

PAGE.

Chapter I.
The Prevalence of Weeds 7

Chapter II.
The Evils which Arise from the Presence of

Weeds 13

Chapter III.
The Possibihty of Destroying Weeds 21

Chapter IV.
The Agencies Concerned in the Distribution

and Propagation of Noxious Weeds.. 40

Chapter V.
Methods and Principles Generally Applicable

in the Destruction of Weeds. 58

Chapter VI.
Specific Modes of Eradicating Weeds of the

Thistle Family 113

Chapter VII.
Methods of Eradicating Weeds of the Mus-
tard Family 149

Chapter VIII.
Eradication of the Weedy Grasses 175

Chapter IX.
Specific Modes of Eradicating Miscellaneous

Troublesome Weeds 196

CHAPTER I.

THE PREVALENCE OF WEEDS.

"Cursed is the ground for thy sake ; in
sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of
thy life; thorns also and thistles shall it
bring forth to thee ; and thou shalt eat the
herb of the field." So reads the doom that
was hurled down the centuries from the
gates of Eden, when man was ejected from
a paradise lost, to earn his bread by the
sweat of his brow. From that day to the
present weeds have followed in the foot
prints of man. He no sooner pitches his
tent or builds his more permanent home
than they entrench themselves around it.
He no sooner commences to till the soil
than they commence to dispute its posses-
sion with the plants that he sows, and thus
they harass and perplex him, and compli-
cate all his best devised methods for sub-
duing the earth.

It is true at the same time that in lands
that have never been tilled, we find some

Library
N. C, State Collej^©

8 IVccds.

weeds, but they are native to the soil, and
the number of the species is not only lim-
ited, but those which do exist seem unable
to multiply to any great extent in the natu-
ral surroundings amid which they grow.
On the other hand, in lands that have long
been cultivated, we frequently find that for-
eign varieties of weeds are far more numer-
ous and aggressive than the native spe-
cies. Regions that have been settled with
inhabitants drawn from different countries
are peculiarly liable to be infested with the
weeds of the various countries from which
these inhabitants have come. The seeds of
the weeds are imported along wnth the grain
that is brought for sowing, and are intro-
duced in various other w^ays. Some of the
varieties thus imported do not take kindly
to the new conditions, but other sorts, like
the people who have brought them, often-
times find their new surroundings pre-emi-
nently favorable to a greatly increased
development.

The ''prevalence of weeds" depends
( I ) on the number of weed species found
in any locality; and (2) on the extent to
which these various species are allowed to
multiply.

Prevalence of Weeds. 9

I. The number of zveed species. The
number of the various species of weeds
which infest the different portions of the
United States and of the provinces of Can-
ada has not yet been accurately determined.
The story of their distribution has not yet
been fully told, and their number is con-
stantly increasing. It would serve no good
purpose to enumerate the various species,
or even to try to give an approximation of
their number. Weeds are probably quite
as numerous and varied now in America as
in Europe, where it is well known that they
have been constantly increasing in number
and variety w'ith every passing century. In
addition to the noxious weeds of America
that are native to the continent, the greater
portion of those that have long harassed
the inhabitants of Europe are now giving
trouble to the inhabitants of America.

Our most troublesome and aggressive
weeds are foreigners. The Canada thistle,
which seems so completely at home in the
central provinces of the Dominion and the
northern portion of the United States, was
imported from Europe. The same is true
of some varieties of the sow thistle. The
wild oat, the ox-eve daisv, the burdock, the

lo Weeds.

wild mustard, the Russian thistle, the
prickly lettuce, the corn cockle and indeed
nearly all tlie various forms of weed life
that are greatly troublesome to us, come
from a foreign source. Foreign weeds in
this country are even more numerous and
characteristic than the people who brought'
them hither, and so they are likely to
remain, for weeds, unlike nationalities, do
not fuse and blend so as to lose their sev-
eral individualities. For some of them, as
the Canada thistle, the new conditions have
been found so favorable that they flourish
to a greater extent than even in the lands
whence they came.

Although the presence of weed life in any
form is not desirable, some varieties, as for
instance the dandelion, are not greatly
harm;ful, while others, as the sow thistle,
quack grass and the Canada thistle, if given
a chance, will soon render the growing of
certain crops quite unprofitable. A large
majority of the weeds found in this country
may be kept in check by what may be
termed good cultivation, that is to say, by
such cultivation as is necessary to grow
good crops ; but other varieties require spe-
cific modes of treatment if, when the

Prci'alcnce of Weeds. ii

attempt is made to exterminate them, it is
to prove successful. Happily the number
of varieties of weeds which are really seri-
ously harmful to crops and difficult to erad-
icate is not very large. In the present state
of our knowledge of the subject, it would
not be safe to name a definite number which
w^ould cover the entire list, nor would it be
judicious to do so, as new varieties are com-
ing forward all the time. Notwithstand-
ing, it would probably be not incorrect to
say that at the present time the varieties of
really noxious weeds in the United States
and Canada do not number more than thirty
or forty, and it is greatly encouraging to
reflect that we seldom find more than half
a dozen kinds entrenched in any one local-
ity.

2. The extent to zvhich zvceds have been
allozved to multiply. The extent to which
certain varieties of noxious weeds have
been allowed to multiply is simply alarm-
ing. Some of them are, in a sense, taking
possession of the land. Notably is this true
of wild mustard, the Canada thistle, and
wild oats in the Red River Valley and simi-
lar grain-growing sections, of quack grass
in some localities, and of wild barlev and

12 Weeds.

the Russian thistle in others. In some sec-
tions the seeds of wild mustard are so
numerous in the soil that, though no more
were allowed to ripen during the present
generation, there would probably still be a
few left to grow plants for the next genera-
tion to destroy. Other varieties than those
named are increasing with alarming rapid-
ity. Unless some efifective measures are
taken to destroy them, they will increase
more and more, to the great injury of our
agriculture. It is surely a stigma on the
agriculture of any country and a withering
criticism on the defectiveness of the modes
of cultivation that are practiced in it, when
weeds increase rather than decrease. In
the hope of doing something to stay the
progress of the great tide of weed invasion
and weed aggression, this book has been
written. The writer cherishes the hope
that every interested reader will exert him-
self to the utmost to stay the progress of
weed extension by doing his best to utterly
annihilate weeds in all their seriously nox-
ious forms.

CHAPTER 11.

THE EVILS WHICH ARISE FROM THE PRESENCE
OF WEEDS.

The evils which arise from the presence
of weeds are very many and very great ; so
many and so great that it would seem incon-
ceivable that any one should be found will-
ing to offer an excuse for weeds on the
ground of their utility. Nevertheless, we
sometimes find persons enlarging on their
value for fertilizing purposes, and on their
utility in arresting the escape of nitrates
from the soil through leaching. It is true
that weeds may sometimes be turned to
good account in enriching the land, if they
are plowed under as a green crop before
their seeds mature, but more commonly it
will be found far better to sow^a crop prop-
erly suited to the purpose, and one that will
at the same time afford pasture if necessary.
A green crop thus sown will also hinder the

14 Weeds.

escape of nitrates more effectively than a
crop of weeds, owing to its greater uni-
formity. Whenever weeds grow spontane-
ously in sufficient numbers to be of much
service in either of the ways named above,
they are sure to give trouble to whatever
useful crop is grown upon the same land,
much more than will offset any advan-
tage to be gained from them.

In good farming weeds should not be
tolerated at all, because ( i ) they rob the
useful, cultivated plants of their due share
of plant food and moisture; (2) they also
injure them by crowding and shading;

(3) they harbor insects and plant diseases;

(4) they add greatly to the labor of clean-
ing grain for market and for seed ; ( 5 ) they
frequently interfere with a regular rotation ;
and (6) they are usually not of much value
as food. To all these things may be added
the statement that the longer they are left
to grow unchecked, the greater is the work
required to completely subdue them.

/. Weeds rob useful plants of their due
share of plant food and moisture. Weeds
feed upon precisely the same kinds of food
as the useful plants among which thev
grow, and they draw heavily upon the avail-

Injuries from Weeds. 15

able soil moisture. They are often more
capable of gathering food and moisture
from the soil than the useful crop, as their
root systems are usually more vigorous and
penetrate to a greater depth. When found
growing in a crop, therefore, they deprive
either that crop or the crops that come after
that one, of precisely that amount of water
and plant food which they consume during
their period of growth. The quantity of
plant food which weeds take from the crops
and the soil will be in proportion to the
numbers in which they are found. It should
not be forgotten that plant food externally
applied, often at much cost, as in the case
of commercial fertilizers will be utilized by
weeds quite as readily as the plant food nat-
urally" available in the soil itself.
(y^. Weeds injure useful plants by croivd-
ing and shading them. When useful plants
and weeds commence to grow at the same
time, the weeds will nearly always leave
the useful plants behind in the race. This
is owing to the superior power of gathering
plant food which nearly all varieties of
weeds possess. When present in a crop,
they usually grow more vigorously than the
crop itself, and as the latter is intended to

1 6 Weeds.

grow so thickly that it will require all the
room that can be given it to enable it to
perfect its growth, it follows that the injury
through crowding from weeds will be in
proportion to the number and vigor of the
weeds. Weeds also grow more quickly
than useful plants, hence by their shade
they hinder that perfect development of the
useful plants which abundant sunlight is
necessary to secure.

J. Weeds harbor injurious inseets and
plant diseases. Weedy fence rows, waste
places, and stubble furnish winter lodgment
to'the chinch bug and various other injuri-
ous insects. Certain weeds, by their dense
growth, form an excellent harbor for plant
lice. The dense shade formed by a rank
growth of weeds furnishes conditions favor-
able to the development of rust, mildew,
and other plant diseases. Some of the dis-
eases of the cabbage, cauliflower, and turnip
also occur on the wild mustard and similar
plants, and are spread by them.

4. Weeds add much to the labor of clean-
ing grain for market and for seed. Were
it not for the presence of weed seeds, it
would not be necessary to spend much time
in cleaning grain intended for sale. It is

Injuries from Weeds. ly

evident that grain entirely free from the
seeds of weeds always commands, even in
the ordinary market, a higher price than
grain that is unclean. When grain con-
taining weed seeds is put on sale for sow-
ing, the depreciation in value is much
greater relatively. The seedsman cannot
afford to pay good prices for seed grain of
any kind if he must spend much time and
labor upon it in removing the seeds of nox-
ious weeds. Oftentimes it is found impos-
sible to completely separate weed seeds from
the grain in which they ^re found by any
other process than that ' of hand-picking.
With the farmer, in preparing a crop of
any kind for market, this would be simply
impossible. All kinds of grain should be
considered as unfit for seed, however, so
long as any seeds of noxious weeds are
found in it.

The difficulty in removing the seeds of
weeds from those of grasses and clovers is
much greater than in removing them from
the small grains, owing to the greater rela-
tive uniformity in the size of the weed seeds
and the seeds of the grasses. The labor of
the cleaning process, therefore, is also rel-
atively greater, and in very many instances

i8 Weeds.

the cleaning cannot be accomplished by any
process. The only possible way of prevent-
ing the presence of the seeds of certain nox-
ious weeds in many kinds of seed grains,
clovers, and grasses, is to prevent them
from ripening in the crops which produce
thes'S seeds.

5. IVeeds frequently interfere ivith a reg-
ular rotation. Ordinarily, farming cannot
be carried on successfully without a regu-
lar rotation. This fact is admitted on every
hand by the most succ^«sful agriculturists.
The nature of the rotation will depend upon
such considerations as relate to the capabil-
ities and requirements of the soil, the mar-
kets, and the facilities for ol)taining supplies
of plant food, ^^^he fertility of the soil can
always be sustained in more even balance
when a suitable rotation is practiced. When
weeds become numerous in any of the crops
of a rotation, they greatly hinder the prof-
itable growth of these crops.''/ In some
instances, this hindrance may be so great
as to render the growth of the crops of the
regular rotation quite unprofitable until
prompt measures have been taken to remove
the weeds. The adoption of these meas-

lujuncs from U'ccds. 19

ures may necessitate the growing of such
crops for a time as may not be desired.

6. Weeds are usually not of much value
for food. If weeds were of much value as
food either for man or beast, there would
not be the same necessity for waging
against them a war of extermination, but
usually they are of no value. When live
stock feed upon them^ it is generally
because of short supplies of their proper
food, unless it be when the weeds are very
young. Nearly all forms of weed life are
possessed of acrid or bitter juices which
render them distasteful to live stock, and
many of them become so woody at a com-
paratively early stage of their growth that
they are in consequence left undisturbed.
Quack grass, it is true, forms an exception,
but quack grass is not more valuable than
many other kinds of grass, and when we
consider the difficulty found in eradicating
it, we cannot regard it in any other light
than that of a most troublesome weed. The
value of weeds for food is so trifling, com-
pared with the mischief which arises from
their prevalence, that we ought never to
sow them or tolerate their presence for such
a use.

20 Weeds.

Finally, the longer weeds are left to grozv
uneheeked, the greater is the labor required
to eoinpletely subdue them. Were it not
for the presence of weeds, the art of tilhng
the soil would be very much simplified.
They are more or less responsible for the
introduction of the bare fallow, which is
not only costly in respect of time, but also
involves much labor. Once get the mas-
tery of the more noxious forms of weed
life, and the bare fallow is no longer an
absolute necessity on any farm, except pos-
sibly for the conservation of moisture in
the semi-arid districts. Weeds also add
greatly to the cost of growing crops which
require cultivation, such as corn and roots,
as those engaged in raising these crops
know very well. It would be impossible
even to approximate to the cost of labor
expended annually in the destruction of
weeds, but it is a very large sum, and one
that in many portions of this continent is
continually increasing, since the cost of sub-
duing weeds must always increase as the
weeds themselves increase in number.

CHAPTER III.

THE POSSIBILITY OF DESTROYING WEEDS.

The prevalence of noxious weeds in the
United States and Canada is simply alarm-
ing. They abound on every hand. In
many sections, in one form or another, they
flourish in every field and luxuriate in every
crop. Gardens, which above all places on
the farm should be clean, are literally over-
run with them. They occupy the sides of
nearly every road throughout the whole
continent. To so great an extent do they
prevail everywhere that they form one great
dark blot upon the boasted progress of the
twentieth century, and are a reproach upon
its civilization.

The extent to which weeds prevail in
nearly all parts of this continent would
lead one to suppose that the farmers had
abandoned all efforts to destroy them, and
were content to gather from their fields,

22 Weeds.

in the form of crops, merely what the weeds
allowed to grow there. This apathy seems
to arise, in part at least, from a lack of
belief in the possibility of destroying weeds
without incurring so much labor and
expense as to make the work unprofitable.
As the matter presents itself to the writer,
there is not a shadow of a hope that the
weeds of this continent will ever be
destroyed by the farmers, so long as their
complete eradication is looked upon as
impossible, or so long as the belief is har-
bored that the outlay of labor and expense
in completely eradicating them will not be
repaid by the greater gains that will be
obtained when once their destruction is
effected.

Four propositions are now submitted
which bear upon the subject of the com-
plete eradication of weeds. So confident
is the writer of the soundness of these prop-
ositions that he makes them as strongly
affirmative as possible. They are as follows :

(i) The noxious forms of w^eed life can
be completely eradicated on every farm
throughout the whole continent if the farm-
ers of these farms resolve that it shall be
done.

Possibility of Destroying Weeds. 23

(2) Complete eradication can be effected
without heavy outlay, if the work be done
in the proper way.

(3) When weeds are once under control,
it will be easily possible, with but little out-
lay, to keep them so.

(4) The profits of farming will be, rela-
tively, much larger where farms are kept
entirely free from noxious weeds.

The writer is by no means unconscious of
the fact that these propositions will be
received doubtfully by some who read them,
but he finds comfort in the reflection that
they will be distasteful to no one whose
heart is really set upon the complete eradi-
cation of the noxious weeds that may exist
on his own farm,.

I. The noxious forms of zveed life can he
completely eradicated on every farm. By
the assertion that the more troublesome
forms of weed life can be completely erad-
icated, it is meant that they can be so effec-
tually exterminated that they will practi-
cally cease to interfere with any rotation
that may be desired. It even implies that
they can be completely banished from every
farm where the attempt is made, except as
their seeds are brought back again by natu-

24 Weeds.

ral or other agencies, and that with the
necessary watch fuhiess, the plants which
grow from these can in turn be destroyed
with but Httle difficuhy. Many persons
seem to hold the view that while weeds may
be held in check and kept from seriously
hindering the growth of crops, they cannot
be wholly destroyed. They claim that while
weeds may be thus far conquered, never-
theless they will come again, and therefore
that the hope of eradicating them com-
pletely is not to be cherished. Those who
hold this view shape their practice accord-
ingly. They adopt some method of clean-
ing a field that proves fairly successful, and
then during the years. that immediately fol-
low give the same field no further special
attention. The consequence is that this
field soon again requires to be put through
some special cleaning process, owing to
the increase of the weeds which were
but partially eradicated by the pre-
vious one. If this practice were a good
one, it would involve the correctness of the
untenable theory that in correcting error
and uprooting evil, it is better to do it par-
tially rather than wholly. So long as the
belief is cherished by those who are most
interested, that the complete eradication of

Possibility of Destroying Weeds. 25

noxious weeds is impossible, so long will
weeds continue to prevail. To so great an
extent is this belief indulged in that it
would probably be found a greater task to
correct it in the minds of many farmers
than to uproot the weeds themselves from
their fields.

To banish weeds completely from any
farm will not only require the wise and dil-
igent use of measures of a certain charac-
ter, which will be described in succeeding
chapters, but when once they are gone, it
will also require the most persistent watch-
fulness to keep them away. With public
sentiment on this subject as it is at present,
it will be found impossible to get those who
are most directly interested to act in con-
cert in destroying weeds, hence the work of
even materially reducing their numbers will
necessarily be slow. The work of banish-
ing weeds from any country would not of
necessity extend over many years if all the
farmers of the country would but act
together. The spectacle would then be wit-
nessed for the first time of an inhabited
country without noxious weeds to harass
and annoy the tiller of the soil. Because
farmers cannot all be persuaded to put forth

26 Weeds.

the efifort to banish weeds from their prem-
ises, no one engaged in agriculture should
refrain from doing all that he possibly can
to bring about this result. Though our
neighbors should not now believe in the
possibility of being able to banish noxious
weeds from their farms, if our own farms
are made clean and kept clean, the evidence
thus presented will in time have its due
measure of influence.

2, The complete eradication of noxious
weeds can be effected zvithoitt heavy outlay
if the zvork be done in a proper way. To
argue the truth of this proposition in an
abstract, theoretical fashion would be to
spend time to but little purpose. It would
not succeed in winning many converts to
the truth. Those who cherish the belief in
reference to weeds that "the thing that
hath been is that which shall be" cannot be
reached by any such line of reasoning. The
evidence of actual accomplishment is the
only testimony which they will not be
inclined to reject. Evidence of this kind
is not very plentiful, as our farmer readers
must know very well. Therefore, because
of the lack of the necessary data from other
sources bearing upon the cost of cleaning

Possibility of Destroying Weeds. 27

farms from weeds, the writer must fall
back upon his own experience, and use as
evidence the work that was accomplished at
the Ontario Agricultural Experiment Sta-
tion at Guelph from the time it came under
his supervision in the autumn of 1888.

At that time the farm was not in a clean
condition. The Canada thistle prevailed to
a greater or less extent over the whole of
it. In some of the fields the spring grain
crops were so infested with this pest that
they had to be cut in the green stage to pre-
vent the maturing of thistles in countless
numbers. In several of the fields, ox-eye
daisies spangled meadows and pastures
with a glory all their own. The yellow
blossoms of the wild mustard lent variety to
the foliage of every fields and in some fields
their beauty was painfully profuse. Bur-
docks revelled among the stones that were
strewn along the numerous fence borders.
Wheat-thief and false flax were plentifully
sprinkled in some localities, while in others
the sow thistle had ol^tained a firm and men-
acing footing. Quack grass had monopo-
lized more than one field. Ragweed was
plentifully strewn over one or two fields.
Bindweed had taken possession of small

28 Weeds.

areas here and there, and blueweed had
nxed its firm grip on some of the pastures.
Here, then, was a capital opportunity for
experiment in the eradication of noxious
weeds.

It would not be correct to say that any
one of these varieties of weed life was com-
pletely eradicated in the five years from
that time till this little book was first
written. A few stragglers still survived
from year to year, but these, in nearly all
instances, came from the seeds which were
in the soil ready to spring into vigor-
ous existence when favorable conditions
occurred for them. It may be said in all
fairness, however, that none of these vari-
ous forms of weed life were present in suf-
ficient numbers to cause serious annoyance
to cultivation or real injury to the crops.

To estimate with absolute precision the
cost of bringing this Station Farm into the
condition of cleanliness indicated would
probably be an impossible task, owing to
the many complications that arise in fixing
the proportion of the outlay that should be
charged to the growing of the crops and
to the eradication of the weeds respectively.
The utmost that can be hoped for is an

Possibility of Destroying Weeds. 2C^

approximation to the real cost. Such an
approximate estimate was made and pub-
hshed in the Annual Report of the Ontario
Agricultural College and Experimental
Farm for 1891, pp. 51 and 52. No better
course, probably, can be adopted here than
to make a quotation from the Farm Depart-
ment portion of this report, prepared by the
writer. The subject in hand is therein dis-
cussed in the following language :

''The question of the cost of cleaning this
farm will doubtless be raised by the enquir-
ing mind, and it is well that it should be.
In reference to this, I desire to say that I
am satisfied that the only outlay for which
there was no direct return was that paid
for hand spudding. The hoed crops would
certainly all pay for the cost of producing
them. On much of the land, two crops
were grown each year during the cleaning
process. On the land gang-plowed after
harvest, compensation for the outlay was
frequently obtained in the catch crops
grown. I regret that no account was kept
of the exact amount expended for hand
spudding in 1889. In 1890 the time spent
in spudding was 4983/^ hours by one per-
son, which, at $1.25 per day of ten hours,

30 IVccds.

would amount to $62,313/2. In 1891 the
time thus spent upon the farm amounted
to 489 hours, which would cost $6i.i2j/2.
For the two years, then, the outlay for
spudding was $123.44. This does not
include spudding on the road. On the
supposition that as much was expended in
spudding in the year 1889 ^s in the two fol-
lowing years, and this estimate is certainly
a liberal one, the whole outlay for spudding
in the three years would not be more than
$250.00. Now, suppose the 400 acres, or
thereabouts, of arable and pasture land on
this farm had been cleaned by the process
of the bare fallow during these three years,
that is to say, one-third of it each year, the
cost of hired labor of man and team, with
rental of land added, in the al)sence of crop,
would have been from $3,200 to $4,000.
This calculation is based on the assumption
that the cost of the bare fallow, when all
the labor is hired and the rental of the land
included, would be fully $8.00 to $10.00 per
acre."

When the work of the bare fallow is
done by the farmer, it will not, of course,
be nearly so costly to the person doing it as
when the labor of man and team is hired;

Possibility of Destroying Weeds. 31

but in whatever way it may be done, it will
cost several times more per acre than the
sum actually paid per acre for spudding
during the three years in which the Onta-
rio Agricultural Experiment Station at
Guelph was being freed from weeds.

J. IV hen noxious zveeds are once eradi-
cated, it zvili be easily possible, zvith but
little outlay, to keep, them in check. This
proposition is so reasonable that it should
scarcely require any argument to demon-
strate its correctness. Nevertheless, it is
one which runs strangely counter to popu-
lar opinion. We find many ready to say
that the task is a hopeless one, that weeds
will continue to come through all time, and
that to keep them completely under control
will be found a process costly out of all
proportion to the benefits accruing. That
noxious weeds, even when once eradicated,
will come again is certainly true, and that
they will keep coming is equally true, but
that it will cost more to keep them wholly
banished than only partially banished is
altogether illogical.

Such reasoning would involve the unten-
able assumption that when weeds are plen-
tiful they are relatively easier to fight than

Z2 Weeds.

when they are few, and that while it would
be a wise and commendable course to
reduce the number of weeds on a farm,
there is a limit beyond which further reduc-
tion ought not to go.

If a farm that is very dirty can be made
partially clean with advantage to the
farmer, it seems reasonable to think that
to go a step farther and to render it alto-
gether clean would be a still greater advan-
tage, and that if a farm can be partially
cleaned and yield profit to the owner, this
profit will not only be correspondingly
greater if the farm be perfectly cleaned,
but that the labor and cost of maintaining
cleanliness will continually decrease with
the increasing perfection of the cleanliness.

It may be well to state here that the term
"clean," as applied to freedom from the
presence of noxious weeds on farms, is
necessarily used in this work in a relative
sense. So long as weed seeds are carried
from place to place by means of such agen-
cies as birds, waters, and winds, we shall
never be able to say that a farm is abso-
lutely clean. Though one year it were to
be made perfectly free from noxious weeds,
the following year a number of weeds

Possibility of Destroying Weeds. ^^

would probably grow from seeds brought
by some one or other of the various agen-
cies concerned in weed distribution. When,
therefore, a farm is spoken of as clean in
this work, it is meant ( i ) that it is so free
from noxious weeds that they do practi-
cally no injury to the crops that may be
grown upon it; and (2) that such -weeds as
are found upon it are so few in number
. that one can remove by hand or with the
spud, in one day of ten working hours, all
of them found growing in any ten acres of
the farm. Such a definition may seem arbi-
trary, but since absolute freedom from nox-
ious weeds is not, at any rate for the pres-
ent, to be looked for, some definition seemed
necessary to prevent misconception. A def-
inition was chosen, therefore, within rea-
sonable reach of attainment, and such as
would serve all practical purposes. The
mode of securing and maintaining the
above-defined degree of cleanliness will be
described in subsequent chapters.

To show that the work of maintaining
cleanliness is not necessarily expensive, it
will be sufiicient to quote again from the
Report of the Ontario Agricultural College

^34 Weeds.

and Experimental Farm for 1891. On
page 52, the following statements are made :
"It may not be amiss here to venture two
or three remarks that are general in their
nature in reference to cleaning farms. I
desire to say, fi^rst, that it is my firm con-
viction that the farmers of this province
may have clean farms if they so desire it;
second, that farms may be cleaned without
great outlay, and ordinarily without resort-
ing to the bare fallow ; and, third, that when
farms are thus cleaned the work of keeping
them clean will not be difficult, providing
due vigilance is exercised. When a field
is cleaned, it can easily be kept clean by the
use of the spud and autumn cultivation, in
addition to the cultivation necessary to the
production of the crops grown. When
thus cleaned, the hand spudding, essential
in keeping fields clean of weeds, should not
be more than $25.00 per year for 100 acres.
We expect to keep this farm clean hence-
forth at an outlay of not more than $75.00
per annum, over and above the ordinary
outlay required in good cultivation. This
estimate includes private roads, fence bor-
ders, unbroken pastures, and by-places."

Possibility of Destroying Weeds. 35

Some of the statements in the quotation
just given may appear extravagant, even
to practical men. The idea of bringing
farms into a clean condition and then keep-
ing them so seems to be entertained by so
small a number that those who advocate
such views will be looked upon by many as
enthusiasts. The writer feels free to say,
however, that this opinion is not the view
of a mere enthusiast, and no man should
regard it as such until he has first honestly
made the attempt to clean his own farm on
the lines laid down in this book, and found
that he cannot profitably do so. This opin-
ion, it may be added, is sustained by the
experience of 1892 in the management of
the Ontario Agricultural Experiment Sta-
tion at Guelph. An accurate account was
kept of the time spent in hand spudding
that year. It amounted to 512 hours,
which, at $1.25 per day of ten hours, cost,
but $64.00, a sum considerably less than
$25.00 per 100 acres. And this cost includes
the entire work done in the way indicated
on ''private roads, fence borders, unbroken
pastures, and by-places," in addition to that
expended on the cultivable portions.

36 Weeds,

4. The profits of farming zvill be rela-
tively much larger zvhere farms arc kept
entirely free from noxious zvecds. The
correctness of the proposition here made
will surely be apparent to the reflective
mind, but if proof is wanted, it is easily
found.

Since weeds feed upon identically the
same food as useful plants, it follows that,
where the former take up a portion of the
plant food there will be just that much less
for the crops in which the weeds grow.
Where weeds are more numerous in a crop
than the plants of the crop, much more of
plant food is used by the weeds than by the
crop, for weeds are more ravenous feeders
tban useful plants. Moreover, through the
crozvding and sJiadiug by weeds of the crop
plants, crops are very much injured, as was
stated in a previous chapter. Here, too,
the injury will be in proportion to the num-
ber and strength of the weeds, and crop-
yields will be correspondingly diminished.
The view has been advocated that some-
times noxious weeds should not be cut down
in pastures, for the reason that they encour-
age the growth of grasses, inasmuch as
they furnish shade to them. This would

Possibility of Destroying Weeds. 37

be equivalent to saying that grasses robbed
of nutriment by overshadowing weeds, and
grown in the absence of sunHght, would be
more abundant and nutritious than grasses
occupying the ground alone. Such argu-
ment should be consigned to a deeper shade
than the rankest weeds can possibly furnish.
Again, weeds growing in crops increase
the labor of handling the crops, and to no
useful purpose. Here, too, the increase in
labor will be in proportion to the extent to
which the weeds are present, and with all
increase in labor that is not followed by a
corresponding return, there must be a
decrease in the profits. Weeds increase the
labor of harvesting the crops amid which
they grow, whether these are cereal or cul-
tivated crops. Grain crops are much more
difficult to reap where weeds abound, since
the latter are more branching in their hab-
its of growth than cereal plants, are more
woody in fibre, and are of greater height
proportionately — the latter characteristic
resulting from a tendency to a more pro-
longed state of greenness in some portions
of the plants. Cultivated crops are much
more difficult to harvest w^here weeds
abound, since weeds frequently hinder free-

38 Weeds,

dom of locomotion on the part of the work-
men, impede the working of the implements
used, and increase the difficulty of hand-
ling the crop. Moreover, weeds materially
increase the difficulty of curing both cereal
and grass crops by prolonging the curing
period, and in proportion as this period is
prolonged, the liability to loss from adverse
weather is increased.

When weeds become so numerous as to
disturb the regular rotation, they necessa-
rily interfere with the profits that would
otherwise accrue. A disturbed rotation
generally leads to the growing of some crop
that is less desirable than that usually
grown. This, in turn, may lead to dis-
turbed market relations, a greater necessity
for the purchase of artificial fertilizers, and
even of certain farm foods that may be
wanted, and to various other evils, some of
which have been mentioned in Chapter II.

The labor required in cleaning the ground
from weeds increases with the increase of
the weeds, and the farm profits are there-
fore to that extent reduced. More partic-
ularly is this the case in growing cultivated
crops. With the multiplication of weeds
hand labor especially is increased, because

Possibility of Destroying Weeds. 39

more labor is required to remove weeds
from the line of the rows, and the hand
labor thus employed is always relatively
more expensive than horse labor. Because
of this, the untenable conclusion has been
reached by some that in America it will
not pay to grow croi)S which require hand
labor to keep them clean. The labor of
cleaning by other modes, such as the bare
fallow, is also increased as weeds multiply,
and this increase of labor not only results
from the greater frequency with which the
bare fallow would have to be resorted to by
those who practice it, but also from the
thoroughness with which the bare fallow
would have to be managed to make it effec-
ti've when weeds are plentiful, to say noth-
ing of the loss that is occasioned by the
greater frequency of the seasons when
crops can not be growm because of the land
lying idle in bare fallow.

CHAPTER IV.

THE AGENCIES CONCERNED IN THE DISTRI-
BUTION AND PROPAGATION OF NOXIOUS
WEEDS.

The means or agencies concerned in the
distribution and propagation of noxious
weeds are chiefly the following: seed grain,
grass seed, clover seed, etc. ; farm live
stock ; purchased feed stuffs ; farmyard
manures ; packing-cases, crates, etc., that
have been used for the carriage of goods ;
road and farm vehicles, etc. ; implements of
tillage ; thrashing machines ; railways ; birds ;
wild animals ; waters ; winds ; and the inher-
ent powers of the weeds themselves. Some
of these means or agencies are entirely
under the farmer's control, as the last men-
tioned ; some of them are but partially under
his control — that is, as far as weed distri-
bution is concerned — as the vehicles that
pass along his roads or are used upon his

Distribution and Propagation. 41

farm ; and some are entirely beyond his
control, as waters and winds. These vari-
ous means or agencies will now be consid-
ered in the order in which they have been
mentioned.

I, Seed grain, grass seed, clover seed,
etc. By no other agency, perhaps, are
weeds so widely and so generally distributed
as by the grain seed, grass seed, and clover
seed used by the farmer, more especially
the two latter. Carrying facilities are now
so complete that seed intended for sowing
can be brought from great distances to be
sold in any market where there is a demand
for it. This is particularly true of the less
bulky and lighter sorts of seeds. Owing
to the ready means which are thus afforded
for obtaining supplies of these seeds, there
is a tendency in those districts where fair
yields are not commonly obtained to pur-
chase them from distant parts rather than
to raise them at home. The demand thus
sustained encourages the growth of the
various sorts of seeds in those centers that
are found most suitable for them. Unfor-
tunately, those centers which are generally
possessed of unusual fertility oftentimes
produce the seeds of hurtful weeds quite

42 IVeeds.

as freely as those of the useful clovers,
grasses, and grains; and owing, in very
many instances, to their similarity in size
to the useful seeds in which they are found
(especially in grass or clover seeds), it is
almost impossible, by any process of clean-
ing that may be adopted, to separate the
seeds of weeds from the useful seeds which
are intended for sowing. The distribution,
therefore, of these weed seeds is as wide as
that of the useful seeds in which they are
found, and, it may be added, is as continu-
ous. The seeds of millets are also a fruit-
ful agency for the dissemination of weed
seeds, though not perhaps to the same
extent as are seeds that are smaller.

Renewing the stock of small grains by
the purchase of new seed, or by the
exchange for seed grown by others, is a
common practice among farmers, and it has
many things to commend it ; but along with
the new seed there too frequently comes an
influx of the seeds of the most troublesome
weeds. Although this is a less fruitful
source of weed-seed dissemination than that
which has just been spoken of, it furnishes
the explanation of the arrival upon our
farms of manv forms of weeds, the pres-

Distribution and Propagation. 43

ence of which we could not otherwise
account for.

Moreover, farmers sometimes test by
local trial the suitability of the various sorts
of farm seeds that are to be obtained in
foreign countries. This work has its dan-
gers as well as its benefits. In the old
world, as in the new, it is almost impos-
sible to buy seed in the open market entirely
free from the seeds of foul weeds. When
foreign seeds are distributed through the
medium of our agricultural experiment sta-
tions, a considerable degree of assurance is
furnished the farmer that he w^ill get pure
seed ; but it would probably be claiming too
much for those stations to say that, even
when the farmer takes this precaution, there
would be no danger. As long as farm
seeds are bought in the open market, there
will be some danger that the seeds of nox-
ious w^eeds will be brought to our farms by
means of them.

2. Farm live stock. Very frequently weed
seeds are introduced upon a farm by being
carried in the hair or wool of live stock
brought from other localities. Sometimes
the w^eed seeds cluster about the hair of the
mane and tail. When the animals are given

44

Weeds.

the freedom of a pasture, or, as is some-
times the case, the freedom of the farm,
these seeds lose their hold, and, dropping
to the ground, begin at once to grow and
multiply. If a flock of sheep were bought
in a locality where weeds abounded, and
were brought to a clean farm, and there
hurdled in a corner of a field while they
were being tagged, the number and vari-
ety o£ the weeds that would be found grow-
ing in that spot the next season would be
surprising. The writer can testify to the
correctness of this statement from personal
experience and observation.

Again, live stock distribute the seeds of
various sorts of v^ecds by means of their
droppings. This mode of weed distribu-
tion, though somewhat local, is very com-
mon, and should be borne in mind when
removing cattle from fields infested with
noxious weeds to other portions of the
farm which, as yet, may not be infested
with them.

J. Purchased feed stuffs. Weeds are
very frequently introduced into new locali-
ties by being carried in the feed stuffs that
are brought from distant places to sup-
plement the food that is grown upon the

Distribution and Propagation. 45

farm when local supplies run short. More
especially is this likely to be the case in those
localities where dairying or the fattening of
live stock is carried on extensively. Weed
seeds have long been thus distributed in
both grains and fodders ; but only locally,
until recently, in the latter, owing to the
difficulty which has existed of transporting
fodder long distances. Now that fodders
are baled for ease of transport, weed seeds
are carried long distances in them as v/ell
as in grains. Indeed, fodders are now a
more dangerous means of weed distribu-
tion even than grains, since fodders are
usually fed without being subjected to
steaming, while grains may be steamed or'
ground before they are fed, for the pur-
pose of destroying the vitality of such weed
seeds as may be found in them. Persons
w^ho purchase mill screenings which have
not first been ground or crushed, and who
feed them without steaming or grinding
are certain to bring noxious weed seeds to
their farms in countless numbers.

4. Farmyard manures. Weeds are dis-
tributed in countless numbers by the agency
of barnyard manures, a fact which farmers
generally know very well. More especially

46 ' Weeds.

are they distributed by means of the man-
ures which are purchased in towns and
cities, owing to the various sources from
which the feed stuffs which are used in
these places often come. The purchaser
of feed stuffs in towns and cities has not
the same interest in looking into the purity
of what he buys as the farmer ; hence it
would probalDly be exceptional to find the
manure obtained from him entirely free
from the seeds of foul weeds. Although
manure is one of the most common agen-
cies by which weeds are distributed, the
weeds that are distributed by means of
manure are likely to be local in character,
rather than distant and foreign.

5. Packing-eases, evates, ete., that have
been used for the carriage of goods. Nox-
ious weed seeds are frequently introduced
into new localities by means of the straw or
chaff in which goods have been packed for
shipment. The packing-cases which have
held the goods during transport are often
purchased by farmers for other uses. When
these are brought home by the purchasers,
the packing material is thoughtlessly emp-
tied out upon the manure heap or thrown
aside, the weed seeds which it contains are

Distribution and Propagation. 47

then given opportunity to produce plants
in centers perhaps hundreds or thousands
of miles distant from the nearest point
where any of the same species may be
growing. In this fact we find an explana-
tion of the sudden appearance of weeds in
new centers where their presence otherwise
would be hard to account for ; and this is
more especially true of sections in proxim-
ity to cities.

As a similar method of weed distribu-
tion, it may be mentioned that in the days
of early settlement, travelers used to carry
many weed seeds in the provender that they
brought with them for their horses, and
which the animals ate by the road sides, or
wherever convenient ; and the same state-
ment is true of the pioneer settlers of the
Northwest, who thus often introduced
weed seeds into their allotments before they
sowed their first crop.

6. Road and farm vehicles. Noxious
weed seeds are frequently brought to farms
by the wheels of vehicles which have been
driven 'along the highway. The spread of
ragweed furnishes a familiar example of
this sort of weed distribution. The seeds
of this weed, and also of others that grow

48 PVeeds.

along the public roads, are carried in the
mud and dirt and dust that cling to the
wheels of every passing vehicle, and in
this way they are brought onto the farm.
Sometimes they are thus conveyed for
miles, not merely by the vehicles used by
the farmer himself, but also by those
belonging to others; from this sort of inva-
sion the farmer is, in a sense, powerless to
protect, himself. In a similar manner, weed
seeds are also conveyed from one part of
the farm to another.

/. Implements of tillage. Weeds are, to
a considerable extent, distributed by the
ordinary implements of farm tillage, to
which they cling during the various pro-
cesses of cultivation. While this is true to
some extent of all kinds of weeds, it is
more especially true of those weeds which
multiply by means of creeping root-stocks.
These root-stocks readily cling to the plow,
harrow, or cultivator, and are thus carried
from one portion of a field to another, or
even from one field to another; and thus
new centers of distribution are constantly
being established. This is especially true
when the ground is so damp that it tends
to stick to the imulements used. Seeds or

Distribution and t^ropagation. 49

root-stocks embedded in the earth that is
thus carried from place to place are depos-
ited in new centers, where they spring up
to carry on the work of further multipli-
cation. The distributing power of the
implements of tillage under favorable con-
ditions furnishes us with one explanation
of the rapid multiplication in our fields of
such weeds as quack grass and the Canada
thistle, when once these pests have obtained
a footing in them.

8. Thrashing machines. Thrashing ma-
chines, during the season in which they
are used, are continually bearing the seeds
of noxious weeds from farm to farm, and
from district to district ; for at every thrash-
ing, if weed seeds are present at all, some
of them are sure to become lodged in the
various parts of the machines, and to
remain long enough to be carried away.
In this manner, from year to year, a very
general local distribution is sure to be
effected of every form of noxious weed
w^hich matures its seeds in a grain crop.
Farms that are managed in the best man-
ner often become thus infected with noxious
weed life.

50 i^v ccas. ^

p. Kailzvays. Railways seem to be a
wonderfully effective agency in the distri-
bution of weeds, by means of the fodder
supplied to the horses and other animals
used in constructing them, and the bedding
of cars in which live stock is carried. The
litter with which these cars are supplied
frequently contains noxious weed seeds ;
these, falling to the ground, grow in the
soil along the track and commence to repro-
duce their kind. A third explanation is
found in the fact that oftentimes the weed
seeds contained in the grain that is being
shipped escape through leaks in the cars
and fall to the sides of the track, where they
often find conditions quite suitable to their
germination. In these and other ways, the
railways of the country have become largely
responsible for the introduction of new and
troublesome weeds into localities where pre-
viously they were unknown.

10. Birds. Birds carry weed seeds to
great distances. A sprig of a plant on
which the seeds have not left the capsules
in which they grew is caught up by a bird
and carried to some distant place where
the food which its seeds afford can be
enjoyed without molestation. Some of the

Distrioutwn and Propagation. 51

seeds thus carried fall by the way, and
start new centers of weed distribution. The
instinct for nest-building not infrequently
leads to similar results. In this fact we
find an explanation of the unexpected
appearance of weeds along the edges of
forests, and in other localities where the
soil has never been subjected to cultivation.

//. IVild animals. Certain wild animals
are the local distributors of weeds, for,
being fond of a varied diet, they include
the seeds of certain weeds in their list of
desirable foods. Sometimes they bury or
store away weed seeds when layng up their
winter's supply. They also use the foli-
age and stems of weeds in building their
lairs or nests. When gathering these, they
sometimes attempt to carry loads which are
more than they can manage, and so leave
a part upon the way, for which they may
not return. The seeds that are thus dis-
tributed here and there on the soil, or are
dropped at the mouth of the burrow, or left
unconsumed in the nest, spring at length
into vigorous life, and commence again the
w^ork of weed distribution.

12. Waters. Few agencies are more
potent in the distribution of the seeds of

52 Weeds.

weeds, especially of such seeds as float read-
ily, than water. When the valleys are del-
uged by heavy rains, or when they are
turned into streams or rivers by the melt-
ing of the snows, such weed seeds are car-
ried in countless numbers to lower levels,
on the soil of which they are deposited
when the waters recede. A fresh seeding is
in this way scattered from year to year
over the surfaces that are thus exposed.
At present, there is no effectual protection
from this sort of invasion. So long as care-
less farmers on the higher grounds allow
the seeds of noxious weeds to ripen annu-
ally on their fields, so long will the farmers
on the lower levels have weed seeds strewn
upon their fields in countless numbers. The
only remedy is for the law in some way to
intervene and compel the careless farmer to
cease troubling, in this most reprehensible
way, his unoffending neighbor.

/J. Winds. Some forms of weed life
are widely distributed through the agency
of winds. This is especially true of those
weeds, the seeds of which have downy
attachments that enable them to rise in the
air when they are fully matured. Happily
for the agriculturist, many of the seeds so

Distribution and Propagation. 53

endowed do not grow for lack of proper
fertilization; but enough are fertilized to
give the farmer much trouble. Hence many
sorts of weeds are continually finding their
way to new centers, to which they have a
passage as silent as it is free. Some of
these downy travelers are able to sustain
their flight to incredible distances ; others,
on account of their greater weight, are car-
ried but for short distances. It should cer-
tainly fill us with some concern to reflect
that the winds while purifying the atmos-
phere, are also engaged, especially in cer-
tain seasons of the year, in scattering every-
where the seeds of many exceedingly
troublesome weeds. While it is greatly
important that no form of noxious weed
should ever be allowed to mature its seed,
it is doubly so in the case of weeds, the
seeds of which are able to rise in the air.

Winds distribute the seeds of weeds by
their driving as well as by their car-
rying power. The seeds of some weeds
remain in their capsules long after their
season of growth is over ; in some instances
even until the approach of spring. These
are often shaken out by the force of the
winter winds, and are driven incredibly

54 Weeds.

long distances, till at length they find a rest-
ing place. Then, when spring arrives, they
begin their work of reproduction.

In the carrying and driving power of the
wind, we find an explanation of what would
otherwise be difficult of solution, namely,
the sudden appearance of weeds in count-
less numbers in areas which have been
broken for the first time, or from which
the forests have been but recently removed.
In some instances, the weeds appear in
numbers so great that for a time they form
the principal product of the soil. It is this
phenomenon which has given rise to the
baseless opinion, still cherished by many,
that weeds originate spontaneously, spring-
ing into life without a seed germ, or else
that they grow from seed which has been
for ages lying in the soil.

i/j.. Inherent pozvers of the weeds them-
selves. Weeds also spread and distribute
themselves by means of what may be
termed their own inherent powers ; that is
to say, by ripening seeds which are shed
on the ground around the parent stem, or
by means of creeping root-stocks. By the
former method, whole families are often
reproduced around one parent stem in a

Distribution and Propagation. 55

single season ; and by the latter many weeds
are continually spreading and occupying
wider and wider areas. These powers of
reproduction enable weeds to multiply rap-
idly, without the aid of any of the agencies
previously mentioned, when once they have
been brought into new centers by one or
another of these agencies.

With the agencies that have been men-
tioned continually engaged in the work of
weed distribution, and also with others that
have not been mentioned, the task of the
eradication of weeds at first thought seems
appalling. While the power of weeds to
multiply and spread is very great, the power
of man to destroy them is greater, unless
this limitless power is allowed to pass unu-
tilized with the rush of crowding oppor-
tunities. While it is true that there can
be no discharge in this war, it is equally
true that there can be no defeat for the
resolute tiller of the soil who persistently
and constantly strives to keep his farm
clean.

It has already been mentioned that over
some of these agencies of weed distribu-
tion we can exercise but little or no control.
These are the agencies of nature — as wind

56 Weeds.

and water, and such other agencies as wild
animals and birds. So far as these are con-
cerned, we must submit to the inevitable,
and fight them, when we are subjected to
their influence, as best we may. Our
resource here is to kill the weeds as soon
as possible after they appear, or at least
before they mature their seeds.

Where the agencies are but partially
under our control, as implements of tillage
or thrashing machines, our duty is, by
watchfulness, patience, and care, to control
the agencies so far as we have power. The
judicious exercise of this control will always
be found easier than the eradication of the
weeds which they have been allowed to
bring to us.

When the agencies are practically com-
pletely under our control, as that of the
inherent power of the weed plant to ripen
its own seeds, or to spread itself by means
of creeping root-stocks, the measure of the
persistency of our efforts to defeat this
power will be the measure of the time
required to effect complete extermination.
If weeds multiply upon our farms by the
shedding of their seeds, it is because we
allow them to do so; and if they multiply

Distribution and Propagation. 57

by means of lateral root extension, it is
because we do not use the resources
which we have at command to pre-
vent this extension. The farmers who
tolerate either of these methods of weed
distribution will never have clean farms.
We sympathize with the man of scrip-
ture in whose fields, when he slept,
the enemy sowed tares; but he deserves no
sympathy who negligently allows weeds to
ripen their seeds upon his farm, or to prop-
agate themselves by means of root exten-
sion. Such a man is indififerent to his own
true interests, for he allows voracious
intruders from year to year to prey upon
the sources of his own prosperity.

CHAPTER V.

METHODS AND PRINCIPLES GENERALLY

APPLICABLE IN THE DESTRUCTION OF

WEEDS.

In the conflict with weeds, there are cer-
tain general methods and principles which
are applicable in a greater or less degree
for the destruction of all weeds ; and there
are also certain specific modes of treatment
which apply only to the eradication of par-
ticular sorts of weeds. In the present chap-
ter we shall consider the general methods
and principles applicable in weed destruc-
tion, and in the following chapters treat of
the specific modes which are applicable only
in particular cases.

The general methods and principles
applicable in weed destruction which, in
the writer's opinion, are of the most conse-
quence, may be described as follows :

MctJwds of Eradication. 59

(i) The persistent and careful study of
the habits of growth of all the various sorts
of weeds with which one's farm is infested,
so as to be able to deal with them in the
most rational way possible.

(2) The modification (when necessary)
of the scheme of rotation that has been
adopted, so that such crops as allow the
seeds of the weeds which infest them to
ripen may, for a time, be omitted from the
rotation.

(3) When certain methods of eradica-
tion have been fixed upon, the careful and
wise adaptation of these methods to such
conditions of soil and climate as are found
in the locality concerned.

(4) The exercise of due care, when
seeds are purchased, to see that they are
perfectly pure, that is, perfectly free from
the seeds of weeds; and also the exercise
of due care with respect to such seeds as
are grown at home to see that they, too,
are perfectly free from weed seeds.

(5) The exercise of due care to see that
the thrashing machine, especially when it
comes directly from a farm infested with
any form of noxious weed, is thoroughly
cleaned before it is used.

6o Weeds.

(6) The exercise of due care to see that
the chaff from the fanning mill, when it is
suspected of containing any weed seeds, is
burnt or otherwise thoroughly destroyed
and that all screenings are also carefully
looked after.

(7) The growing of cultivated crops
upon the farm infested, to the largest extent
that is practicable.

(8) The growing of clover and alfalfa,
so far as this can be done with profit.

(9) The growing of soiling crops, to the
extent that may be found practicable, both
because of the fact that they can be cut
almost at any time that is desirable, and
also because of their "smothering" prop-
erties.

(10) The utilizing of sheep for the
destruction of weeds in pastures.

(11) The growing at home, as far as
possible, of the food required by the live
stock of the farm, instead of purchasing it
elsewhere.

(12) The keeping of the land of the
farm constantly at work, so far as this can
possibly be effected.

(13) The stimulation of the soil to a con-
stantly vigorous production by means of

Methods of Eradication. 6i

thorough working and a large use of
manure.

(14) The practice of autumn cultivation
to the largest extent that is possible.

(15) The exercise of the utmost possible
precaution that no weed seeds ripen upon
the farm, if by any means their ripening
can be prevented.

(16) The sowing of two or three crops
in succession the same season and grazing
them down with sheep.

(17) The giving of due heed to all the
agencies by which weeds are distributed
and propagated, so as always to be able to
counteract or defeat those agencies.

(18) When once the work of eradica-
tion has been undertaken, the making of it
as thorough as possible, and the accom-
plishment of it in the shortest possible time.

(19) When once a state of cleanliness
has been secured, the maintenance of it
thereafter as perfectly as possible under all
circumstances.

It is greatly important that these general
principles and methods of weed destruc-
tion should be well understood and care-
fully observed ; for these are even more
important than those specific modes of weed

62 Weeds.

destruction which are described hi the fol-
lowing chapters. In fact, unless in our
management of the farm we pay tlie utmost
heed to these general principles and methods
of weed destruction, we can never hope to
be completely successful in our war with
weeds. As the writer has made it his habit
for many years to test the value of these
general principles and methods by con-
stantly putting them into practice, he will
here set down in specific directions, for the
benefit of his brother farmers in this most
important question of weed destruction,
such remarks as he thinks his experience
entitles him to make.

7. Study tlieir habits of groivth. In the
war with weeds, we must study their hab-
its of growth, and adapt our methods of
fighting them to fit in with these habits.
Weeds, like other plants, are classified as
annuals, biennials, and perennials.

Annuals, as their name implies, complete
the cycle of their existence in a single sea-
son, although in some instances they may
start growth in the fall, particularly in the
warmer sections. They are then called
ivinter annuals. Common examples of this
class are shepherd's purse, chickwccd and

Habits of Grozvth. 63

cheat, while among our cultivated crops,
winter rye and winter wheat are winter
annuals. More commonly, annuals begin
to grow toward the approach of spring.
Common examples of summer or ordinary
annuals are ragweed, foxtail and pigweed,
while among our cultivated crops we have
corn, oats, flax, spring wheat, and many
others. It follows, then, that as annual
weeds can live but a single season, if the
plants of any particular sort of weeds of
this class on any farm are prevented from
ripening their seeds year by year through
successive years, the time must come sooner
or later when that sort of weed will be
completely destroyed on that farm. This is
true whatever may be the means that may
be adopted to prevent the seeds from ripen-
ing. In fact, the weeds would all be
destroyed in a single year were it not that
many seeds have great power to resist
decay, and many remain in the soil for
many years without their vitality being lost
or even impaired. Some seeds of this class
of weeds, as those of wild mustard, retain
their vitality for an incredible length of
time ; so that whenever they are brought
sufificiently near the surface by cultivation,

64 Weeds.

or by other means, at any time during the
congenial season of growth, they at once
spring into vigorous Hfe. The means to
be taken in destroying weeds that are
annuals should be, first, to prevent them
from maturing their seeds ; and, second, to
adopt such modes of cultivation as will
most quickly force th.e seeds that are in the
soil into germination, so that they may
spring up and be destroyed. The means
best fitted to secure this quick germination
of the buried seeds of annuals are the
growing of cultivated crops and "autumn
cultivation." At all events, when the seeds
of annual weeds are kept from ripening
year after year, and when the agencies con-
cerned in their dissemination are effectu-
ally looked after and checkmated, the time
cannot fail to come when this class of weeds
will all be destroyed.

Biennial weeds complete the cycle of
their existence in two years. Many of
them are characterized by a tap root, grow-
ing deep into the soil. During the first year
large quantities of starch are stored up in
this root, which is utilized the next year in
producing an abundance of seeds. The
burdock furnishes an excellent example ot

Habits of Growth. 65

this sort of weed, being well known and
common in many lands, while among our
crop plants red clover is our most common
biennial. As biennial weeds are repro-
duced from seed only, it is evident that any
mode of destruction that wall prevent them
from producing seed will also in time effect
their destruction, but it may take years to
accomplish this, as the seeds of this class
also have great vitality. Fortunately, how-
ever, biennial weeds cannot well resist the
destructive effects upon their roots of thor-
ough cultivation; hence we find this class
of weeds more common in old meadows
and pastures, along roadsides, and in waste
lands generally, than in fields that are cul-
tivated. In areas which cannot be culti-
vated, therefore, their destruction is more
difficult than elsewhere. To destroy them
in these places persistent cutting with the
mower, scythe, or spud is the only method
that can be adopted ; but it should be borne
in mind that with many varieties of bien-
nial weeds there is not only a great persis-
tency of growth, but also, during the sec-
ond year, a great persistency of effort to
produce their seeds, even though they are
cut off several times during the season.

66 Weeds.

Perennials, as their name implies, live
from year to year. Of perennial weeds
there are two classes, viz., the perennial
with an ordinary root, and the perennial
with a creeping root-stock. The perennial
weed with an ordinary root-stock, or, as we
may call it for our purpose, the ovdinavy
perennial, is reproduced from seed only.
The ox-eye daisy is a common example of
this sort of weed, and the plantain is
another, while alfalfa is a perenniaL field
crop. The creeping perennial, as we may
call it, is not only reproduced from seed,
but is also propagated by means of its hor-
izontal root-stocks, which run, or "creep,"
through the soil in various directions from
the parent stem. These creeping root-stocks
are furnished with many latent buds, each
one of wdiich, under conditions favorable ta
vigorous growth, is capable of sending up
a fresh plant to the surface. It follows,
then, that the cultivation which does not
weaken and destroy creeping perennials
necessarily favors their increase, inasmuch
as a soil that has been recently stirred is
more easily penetrated by the creeping root-
stocks than one that has not been so stirred,
and has become more compact. Whenever

Habits of Growth. by

any disturbing action is brought to bear
upon these root-stocks, as, for example,
breaking them oft" from their parent stem
by the implements of tillage, a fresh impulse
is given to their growth. Each rootlet so
severed attempts to develop into a complete
plant. Hence it is that, in moist weather,
ordinary cultivation is more likely to pro-
mote than hinder the growth of this class
of weeds. The influence of summer-fallows
and of cultivated crops which are poorly
cared for, is also in the same direction.
Creeping perennials are also likely to cling
to the implements of tillage, and thus be
carried from one part of the field to another,
and even to other fields. The Canada this-
tle, the common sow thistle, and quack
grass furnish familiar examples of creep-
ing perennials ; and we are sure the experi-
ence of our readers will bear us out in what
we have just said of the tendency of culti-
vation, in moist weather, to promote their
increase.

To destroy creeping perennials we must
labor either to smother them, or else by
cultivation to bring their roots to the sur-
face, where they will perish by exposure to
the air and sunshine. By "smothering"

68 Weeds,

them is meant keeping them constantly
under ground. If creeping perennials are
kept beneath the surface of the ground for
some months during the early spring and
summer, they will perish in a single season,
and this result will be gained whatever may
be the means made use of to effect it,
whether spudding, plowing, cultivating, or
covering.

It is sometimes asserted, and the asser-
tion is commonly accepted as true, that
creeping pereimials are more difficult to
destroy than other classes of weeds. This
assertion is supported by the specious argu-
ment, that whereas creeping perennials have
two means of propagation, (i) their seeds,
and (2) their creeping root-stocks, which
push their way through the soil in every
direction, annual and biennial weeds, and
ordinary perennials also, have but one
means of propagation, namely, their seeds
alone. It should be remembered that, in
making this comparison, other things have
to be considered. We must also take into
account the number of seeds produced by
each sort of weed, their vitality, and the
modes by which these seeds are distributed
and fresh plants produced, the crops that

Habits of Growth, 69

are infested by each particular kind of weed,
and the power which the various kinds pos-
sess of maintaining themselves in perma-
nent pastures and waste places.

Some annuals, such as ragweed, bear
seeds in almost countless numbers, whereas
the number of seeds produced by creeping
perennials is usually not very large. The
diversion of the energies of creeping peren-
nials from seed-bearing to increase by
means of their root-stocks is, therefore, so
far unfavorable to their reproduction that
the excess of seed production in annuals
not infrequently more than counterbalances
the advantage gained by creeping perennials
by reason of the dual powers of propaga-
tion which they possess. Moreover, the vital-
ity of the seeds of some sorts of annual
weeds, as those of wild mustard, is so great
that they seem to be able to retain their abil-
ity to grow for a much longer period than
the seeds of creeping perennials. Again,
when the seeds of an annual or biennial
weed are transported from place to place by
water, or by animals, they are given an
advantage which goes far to match the
more dangerous powers possessed by the
seeds of some perennial weeds, such as the

yo Weeds.

thistle, in their abihty to travel from place
to place through the agency of winds.
Weeds which mature their seeds along with
those of the clovers and grasses, as many
ordinary perennial weeds do, are much
more likely to be widely distributed than
those which mature their seeds along
with those of cereals, owing to the great
difficulty that is experienced in separating
the seeds of weeds from the seeds of clov-
ers and grasses. Again, some forms of
weed life, particularly some biennial w^eeds,
find a congenial and permanent home in
pastures and waste places, although in cul-
tivated fields they might not prove very
harmful. The labor required to remove
these w^eeds from such places is very great,
as it has generally to be done by hand ;
whereas in the same localities annuals and
perennials may not be able to get a footing,
because of unfavorable conditions. On
account of these conditions, and of others
not named, such as the congeniality or
uncongeniality of soils, it will be found that
in some localities the weeds most difficult
of eradication will be annuals, in others they
will be biennials, in others thev will be ordi-

Change of Rotation. yi

nary perennials, and in yet others, creeping
perennials.

2. Modify the rotation. In the conflict
with weeds, it is greatly advantageous to
drop out of the rotation for a time such
crops as allow the weeds which infest the
soil where they grow to ripen their seeds.
Some weeds, as, for example, those which
grow as winter annuals, ripen their seeds
early in the season. The seeds of these
weeds mature in crops of winter wheat, rye,
and hay, but ordinarily they do not mature
in spring cereal crops, for the reason that
these weeds begin their growth in the pre-
vious autumn. If, therefore, in the infested
fields winter wheat, rye, and hay are
dropped out of the rotation for a short
time, and spring crops grown in their stead,
the destruction of the weeds mentioned and
of those of kindred habits will be greatly
facilitated. Other weeds ripen their seeds
late. Ragweed, for example, more com-
monly grows up after the early cereal crops
and meadows have been cut, and, if undis-
turbed, it matures its seeds before frost.
Grass seed, therefore, in fields infested with
this sort of weed, should not be sown for
the purpose of producing meadow until the

'J2 Weeds.

ragweed seeds have become greatly reduced
in number through the growing of crops
which require late cultivation. Other weeds,
such as the Canada thistle, grow in all kinds
of crops, so that when a piece of ground is
badly infested with them some kind of cul-
tivated crop should be grown upon it, as
the constant cultivation required will tend
to destroy them while the crop is growing.

Farmers are usually much averse to a
modification of their fixed scheme of rota-
tion, even for a limited time; and more
especially so when the modification inter-
feres with those crops which have been their
chief source of cash revenue. Notwith-
standing this, the truth remains that where
the modification required for the destruc-
tion of any sort of weed is not made, the
ultimate eradication of this weed will be
found a very difficult matter.

J. Adapt methods to conditions. In our
attempts to eradicate weeds, we should care-
fully adapt the methods that we follow to
those conditions of soil, climate, cultiva-
tion, etc., which we find to exist. These
conditions have, of course, an important
bearing on the growth of weeds, and,
therefore, upon their destruction. In stiff

Adapt Methods to Conditions. y;^

clay soils with a hard subsoil, the Canada
thistle, for instance, can be destroyed by
sirr^ply turning the land into pasture, and
mowing down the thistles when in blossom,
and again at a period considerably later.
On other soils of more open texture this
mode of destroying thistles would not suc-
ceed for a long time, if at all. In some
climates a considerable proportion of the
seeds of the Canada thistle are fertilized,
and will therefore grow ; while in other
localities it does not seem very harmful to
allow the thistle to be harvested along with
the crops in which they ripen, because of
the inability of their seeds to grow for lack
of proper fertilization. Other kinds of
weeds, as sheep sorrel, are almost harmless
in certain sections ; whereas in others they
become great pests. Where winter wheat
or rye is grown extensively, specific meas-
ures might be necessary to destroy winter
annuals ; wdiereas, if the wheat or the rye
were not of much account in the rotation,
it would be an easy matter to get rid of this
class of weeds by growing spring crops
successively for a few years.

If, therefore, we wish to destroy a par-
ticular sort of weed with the least possible

74 Weeds.

expenditure of labor, we must study the
habits of that weed as affected by the con-
ditions under which it grows. Under some
conditions, ordinary "good farming" will
generally banish a weed ; while under oth-
ers "specific methods," energetically and
persistently applied, will be absolutely
necessary. It is apparent, therefore, that
for the destruction of weeds hard and fast
rules that will be equally applicable under
all circumstances cannot be laid down, for
what would be a proper course to pursue
under some conditions may be wholly unfit
under others.

4. Sozv only clean seed. Where farms
are to be made clean, and to be kept so,
great care should be exercised in the pur-
chase of seeds, and also in the preparation
for the sowing of those grown at home. The
distribution of weeds is more widely effected
through the agency of the seeds sown for
useful crops than in any other way, as was
shown in Chapter IV. It has, doubtless,
been through this agency that nearly all
our foreign weeds have been brought to
our land. It is not enough for the seeds-
man to assure us that his seeds are clean,
for he may be deceived himself. If his

Sozi' Clean Seed. 75

small seeds have not been carefully hand-
picked, he can have no certain assurance
except by critical examination that they are
clean ; and in the preparation for sowing of
the great variety of seeds in which he deals
hand-picking is out of the question. Pur-
chased seeds, therefore, should not only be
examined with the utmost care, and be
cleaned again if weed seeds are discovered
in them, but the crops that are raised from
them should receive the most careful scru-
tiny while they are growing, so long as
there is any ground for suspecting that
weeds also are growing among them. As
weed seeds are oftener carried in the seeds
of clovers and grasses than in other w^ays,
particular care should be exercised in the
purchase of any seeds of these crops.

It may, indeed, be w^ise to grow at home
many sorts of seeds that are now^ commonly
purchased, or else to buy them from a
neighbor who has a reputation for growing
pure seeds. It would be well, too, when
attempting to raise one's own seed, to select
but a small portion of the crop for this pur-
pose, and to take special pains to prevent
any noxious weeds from maturing their
seeds in this portion ; and this plan should

76 Weeds.

be followed with all the crops grown for
seed, especially grasses and clovers. It
has already been mentioned that weed seeds
frequently come to us in the seed grains
brought to our farms for the purpose of
effecting a change of seed. The danger
here, though not easily altogether averted,
may yet be lessened. If the seed of all
cereal grains were carefully prepared by
such a process of screening as would sift
out all the smaller seeds from it, deteriora-
tion in the seed of this class of crops would
be very much less rapid than it now is, and
a change of seed would much seldomer be
required. The farmer who is so careless
as to sow unclean seed of his own raising,
or so foolish as to purchase unclean seed
from the seedsman because it can be bought
cheaply is, however, not likely to be greatly
concerned as to whether his farm is clean
or is not clean.

5. Thoroughly clean the thrashing
machine before using it. Thrashing
machines, especially if they come from a
farm with a reputation for uncleanness,
should be carefully swept before being set
to work. If, in addition, they are made
at the first to run empty for a short time.

Watch the Grain Screenings. 7;

and the seeds that are caught in the grain
box are destroyed, the danger from them
is even more completely averted. Because
of the fact that thrashing machines are
often instrumental in carrying weed seeds
from one locality to another, it has often
been found advisable for several farmers to
club together and purchase a machine of
their own. For the same reason, small
machines run by tread power are some-
times used by individual farmers. How-
ever, these methods of fighting weeds have
obvious disadvantages which will prevent
their general adoption.

6. Give attention to grain screenings.
The chafit* and screenings from the fanning
mill should receive the most careful atten-
tion. Whenever weed seeds are suspected,
the chaff from the winnowed grain that is
being prepared for market, or indeed for
any other use, should be burned. The
screenings should be ground, boiled or
steamed before being fed ; or if fed other-
wise, they should be strewn on surfaces
where the weed seeds they contain are not
likely to do any harm. The proportion of
weed seeds grown in a crop which collect
in the screenings obtained in cleaning it is

/S Weeds.

relatively very large ; hence the opportu-
nity to destroy these weed seeds, when they
are thus collected, should by no nieans be
neglected.

7. Grow cultivated crops. Wherever it
is desired to subdue noxious weeds wholly,
cultivated crops should be grown to the
greatest extent that is practicable. The
reasons are obvious. The cultivation of
these crops gives opportunity, at almost
every period of the growing season, for
the combating of almost every form
of weed life. The working of the soil
necessary for the production of good
crops not only destroys, from time to
time, the weeds that are growing in them,
but it also stimulates the germination of the
weed seeds lying in the soil, so that they,
too, grow up and are destroyed ; and in this
way it greatly reduces their numbers in a
single season. Pvlany farmers cling to the
opinion that, in the fight with weeds, cul-
tivated crops are not very helpful. They
point to the fact that they have grown these
crops from year to year on the same fields,
yet the weeds in these very fields have
increased. This may have been true, but
when it has been so, the crops have cer-

Groiv Cultivated Crops. 79

tainly not been properly cared for; for
otherwise the weeds would have gradually
decreased, rather than increased. No other
result could possibly follow where a succes-
sion of cultivated crops had been raised,
in which no weed had been allowed to ripen
its seeds. Other farmers cling to the opin-
ion that, whatever may be the value of cul-
tivated crops for destroying weeds in gen-
eral, they are not helpful in the fight with
creeping perennials ; or, at least, that these
crops are not so effective as the bare fallow
for the destruction of creeping perennials
in a single season. This view is a mistaken
one. It has arisen, doubtless, from the too
conumon practice of staying the destructive
processes too early in the season. Going
over the crop with the hand hoe once, twice,
or oftener, after horse cultivation ceases,
and removing all stray weeds that may
appear, will, as a rule, make a thorough
job of the work of destroying creeping
perennials, except so far as their seeds
remain in the soil. The weather must, how-
ever, be fairly dry if success is to be com-
plete.

It is only too true that where cultivated
crops are grown, and sufficient attention is

8o Weeds.

not given to the work of keeping them quite
clean, their growth only serves to encour-
age the increase of weeds in general, and
of creeping perennials in particular. Their
cultivation furnishes conditions very favor-
able to the lateral extension of. the root-
stocks of creeping perennials. It is also
equally favorable to the development in
robust vigor of annuals ; so that it not infre-
quently happens that where a cultivated
crop is grown, and sufficient care is not
taken with it, these annual weeds perfect
their seeds in great numbers, thus making
the state of the field at the end of the sea-
son, so far as weed seeds are concerned,
worse than it was at the beginning. Where
cultivated crops cannot be grown success-
fully, that is, so far as weed destruction is
concerned, a modified form of the bare fal-
low, as described farther on in this chap-
ter, may take their place.

8. Grozv clover and alfalfa. Where the
conditions are favorable to their growth,
the raising of crops of clover and alfalfa
will be found helpful in the reduction of
weeds ; and more especially is this true of
the common red clover. These crops are
not only valuable in weed destruction

Grow Clover and Alfalfa. 8i

because of the frequency with which they
are generally cut, but also because of their
"smothering" tendencies, especially on good
soil and in suitable seasons. Common red
clover may generally be cut twice a year —
a process which usually renders it impos-
sible for perennial weeds growing in it to
ripen their seeds the same season. Alfalfa
may generally be cut oftener than twice a
year. When a luxuriant growth is obtained,
both these crops tend to smother and
weaken the perennial weeds growing among
them. When these crops are grown to be
cut for fodder, the ripening of annual and
biennial weeds growing among them is also
pretty effectively hindered, but if they are
allowed to mature their seeds, some kinds
of weeds w^ill also ripen theirs along wath
them.

Although alfalfa is even more valuable
than common red clover for the purpose
of checking the ripening of weed seeds,
owing to tlie greater frequency with which
it is cut, yet since it can be grown only on
certain kinds of soils its use as an aid in
weed destruction is considerably circum-
scribed. Both crops are also excellent for
other purposes, as the bringing of nitrogen

S2 Weeds.

to the soil when they are plowed under,
and so providmg a more abundant store of
this most necessary plant food ; hence much
attention may consistently be given to grow-
ing them for other reasons than the service
which they render in w^ed destruction. It
may also Be mentioned that after the last
cutting of these crops for the season the
ground may very profitably be gone over
with the spud for the purpose of destroying
the creeping perennials which may then be
growing. This last precaution will be found
to be greatly helpful in speedily completing
the w^ork of extermination.

p. Groi^' soil i Jig erops. In the work of
eradicating weeds, crops which are to be
cut green for feed will be found very help-
ful, especially where the other requirements
of the farm render it advisable to grow
them. This is owing to their smothering
tendencies; to the fact that they can be cut
before certain weeds which grow^ in them
have opportunity to mature; and because
in many instances two soiling crops can be
grown in a single season, hence the benefits
derived from their cultivation can to some
extent be duplicated on the same soil in
the same year. As these crops are not

Grozu Soiling Crops. 83

designed to mature their seeds, they may
be sown more thickly than other crops ;
hence their smothering power is greater
than if they were grown for the grain to be
obtained from them ; yet if they are required
for winter fodder, they may be allowed to
become so nearly ripe before being cut that
their grain is mature enough to possess con-
siderable feeding value, without allow^ing
many of the sorts of weeds that grow
among them to mature their seed. For
example, they may be grown in this way
and yet be cut before such weeds as the
Canada thistle or the perennial sow thistle
have opjX)rtunity to ripen their seeds ; hence
the cultivation of soiling crops has a ten-
dency to weaken the vigor of these weeds,
and to prevent their further increase. Some
of the most mischievous annual weeds and
biennial weeds may be prevented from
ripening their seeds in these crops ; in fact,
many of these weeds cannot possibly ripen
their seeds if the soiling crop amid \vhich
they grow is properly looked after. Because
of the further fact that frequently tw^o soil-
ing crops may be grov/n upon the same field
during the same season, the cultivation of
these crops becomes an excellent means for

84 Weeds.

destroying a specially troublesome weed like
the Canada thistle, whose habit leads it to
grow throughout the whole season, as well
as such weeds as mature their seeds very
early in the season, or such as mature their
seeds very late; or, if it be desirable to take
advantage of it, the growing of an early
soiling crop gives opportunity for subject-
ing lands to the fallow process.

10. Call ill the aid of sheep. Those who
have had experience in keeping sheep do
not need to be told that where sheep are
kept in sufficient numbers some forms of
weed life soon entirely disappear, that other
forms are much crippled in their powers of
growth and so gradually disappear, while
still other forms are w^eakened though they
may not be entirely destroyed. On pasture
lands with stiff clay subsoils, sheep will
eventually prove more than a match for the
Canada thistle, if the pasture is at all times
kept closely eaten, but several seasons of
such cropping may be required to effect this
end. Nearly all biennial weeds and some
perennials as, for example, the ox-eye daisy,
will be greatly checked when thus pastured ;
and the same is true of some annuals, as
ragweed and wheat thief. If sheep are

Grow Feeds at Home. 85

thus allowed to act as scavengers, they will
render excellent service in the work of weed
extermination, more especially in perma-
nent pastures, on private roads, along fence
borders, in grain stubble and in corners and
waste places generally. In order that this
work may be done thoroughly, the pastures
should be kept closely eaten from early
spring. Many weeds are then so tender and
succulent that the sheep will eat them ;
whereas, when the weeds are at a more
advanced stage of growth, they will persis-
tently reject them, unless they are impelled
to feed upon them through the sheer force
of hunger ; and when weeds are thus kept
closely cropped, the hand cutting or hand
spudding that may be required to complete
their destruction is greatly reduced. There
is probably no way in which weeds can so
profitably be used as by turning them into
mutton.

II. Grozv food supplies at home. To aim
to grow food supplies at home, rather than
to purchase them elsewhere, is a safe rule
in farming, viewed from the standpoint of
economy, even when the question of weeds
is not taken into account at all. It is a rule
that is much affected bv considerations of

86 Weeds.

location, soil, climate, and other conditions,
and is therefore not without its limitations ;
but so important is it, notwithstanding all
these considerations, that the aim should
usually be to grow food supplies at home
to the greatest possible extent. The effort
thus made to increase production will prove
greatly advantageous in reducing weeds.
For example, when corn is grown for the
silo to be used as winter fodder, it gives
ample opportunity for checking those weeds
which may attempt to grow in the corn ;
whereas if they grew among crops that were
raise-d for the sake of the grain to be sold
from them, they migiit not be equally effec-
tually disturbed ; and it is generally evident
that where food supplies are grown at
home, the farmer has power to prevent the
weeds which grow in the crops producing
them from ripening their seeds, a power
which he cannot possess when the food
supplies are purchased elsew'here. It is
true that the purchase of food supplies on
a more or less extensive scale is sometimes
a necessity, as where dairying and the keep-
ing of live stock are largely engaged in,
but all grains so purchased, when the pres-
ence of weed seeds in them is suspected,

Keep a Crop on the Land. 87

should be ground or steamed before being
fed, as was mentioned in Chapter 1\\ Even
wlien such grains are fed to sheep, unless
they are ground, a portion of the weed seeds
contained in them is sure to find its w^ay
into the manure, and thus into the soil of
the farm. When fodders containing weed
seeds are purchased, the seeds contained in
them cannot be prevented from getting into'
the manure unless the fodder is cut and
steamed, a practice which is generally
impracticable.

12. Keep the land constantly at work. In
the conflict with weeds, the land should be
kept constantly at work. Upon some kinds
of soil we can easily get two crops a year ;
and where this can be done, the necessary
cultivation will be found very helpful in the
work of destroying weeds. The nature of
the crops to be so raised will naturally
depend largely upon climate, soil, and the
requirements of the farm. As was men-
tioned above in section 9, two soiling crops
may sometimes be grown the same season.
Again, an ordinary crop of grain or of
meadow may generally be followed by a
catch crop. In many sections, rye may be
sown in the autumn, and be followed the

88 ' Weeds.

next spring or summer by a crop of corn,
roots, or rape. When this is done, the rye
may be cut green or plowed under as a
green crop. Such soiHng crops as oats and
peas may be grown, and be followed by
rape, turnips, or some other quick-growing
crop. When the soiling crop has grown
vigorously, and is follow^ed by one of the
crops mentioned, grown in drills and culti-
vated, the effects in the way of weed
destruction are very marked. As all these
crops are of use only for feeding stock on
the farm at home, the process of incessant
cropping, such as we have here described,
is helpful rather than otherwise to the fer-
tility of the soil. There is the further
advantage in thus keeping arable soils at
work, that the nitrates of the soil are
largely prevented from being washed out
by rains.

7j. Stimulate the land to produce plenti-
fully. Weeds can be much more easily
dealt with when the land is kept constantly
stimulated to vigorous productivity than
when the soil is left to run down and
become infertile for lack of proper manur-
ing. When crops are strong, weeds do but
little harm in them, compared with the

Fertilize Heavily. 89

injury they work when they are allowed to
grow amid crops that are thin and poor.
When the soil sustains a vigorous growth,
the useful crops leave many forms af weeds
behind in the race, especially in the early
part of the season. Where the growth is
vigorous in the early stages of the crop,
the weeds have much less opportunity of
monopolizing the growing area. Growing
good crops is synonymous with good farm-
ing; that Is, the raising of good crops is in
itself a great hindrance to the multiplica-
tion of weeds. This agrees with the well-
known fact that the spread of W'Ceds is usu-
ally much more rapid and complete in
impoverished farms than elsewhere, hence
those who desire clean farms will have done
much to secure the desired end when they
adopt such measures as will also maintain
them in a high state of fertility. Much
may be done in the w^ay of securing this
fertility by growling catch crops for feed-
ing off or plowing under after the earlier
crops of the season have been removed. In
all localities wdiere the climate is not too
severe, peas, buckwheat, and rape may all
be grown as catch crops. The cultivation
requisite for preparing the ground for these

90 IVccds.

crops is also good for the destruction of
weeds. It may happen sometimes that the
season will be so dry that the seeds sown
for catch crops will not germinate ; when
such is the case, the dry weather which pro-
duces this result will also be hurtful to the
growth of weeds.

14. Practice autumn cultivation. In the
war with weeds, one of the very best meth-
ods to be adopted is "autumn cultivation."
It is questionable if any other means can be
made use of that will so well repay the out-
lay. Autumn cultivation means the tilling
of the soil after harvest with a view largely
to weed destruction. As soon as the crops
are removed, the land that is not sown to
grass should be plowed. All weeds that
are above the surface of the ground at that
time are thus turned under, while the weed
seeds lying in the soil are encouraged to
germinate. The weeds that grow from
these may be destroyed by harrowing or by
cultivating, or by the late autumn plowing
that just precedes the advent of winter. In
this way myriads of weed plants will be
got rid of in a single season.

There are two real difficulties which
stand in the way : ( i ) The season at which

Prevent Seeding. 91

this work is to be done is a busy one ; and
(2) there is frequently too httle horse labor
available for the purpose, for the reason
that too little is kept on the farm. The
advantages of this method of destroying
weeds are so very important that it is abso-
lutely essential that much effort should be
made to secure them. It may be remarked
that when catch, crops are grown for turn-
ing under as green manure, the necessary
plowing after the harvest of the main crop,
and the plowing under of the green crop
for manure are much the same as would
be required as autumn cultivation for the
purpose mainly of destroying weeds, while
if the catch crop has been successful, there
is an increase in the fertility of the soil by
the application of the green manure.

i^. Allozv no weed seeds to ripen. We
should never allow noxious weeds to ripen
their seeds, if it is at all in our power to
prevent their doing so. When the clean-
ing of a farm that is foul with weeds is first
undertaken, it may not always be possible
to hinder the ripening of the seeds of the
weeds that infest it, but the ripening may
usually be very largely prevented by modi-
fying the rotation for a time. When once

92 Weeds.

a farm is fairly well cleaned, then it is sim-
ply inexcusable to allow noxious weeds —
at least those which are most troublesome —
to mature their seeds. To allow them to
do so is to show an indifference to one's
best interests which cannot be defended.

The specific modes of hindering weeds
from ripening their seeds will of course
vary with the particular weed, and also with
the crop in which it grows. Several of
these specific modes will be described at
length in the following chapter.

As was said above, one of the best and
most reasonable means that can be adopted
for preventing weeds from ripening their
seeds is by a modification of the rotation.
The correctness of this opinion will at once
be apparent when we think, first, of the
unreasonableness of growing a crop a very
large portion of which consists of weeds,
while we may just as well grow some other
crop that will mature at a different season
and be comparatively free from weeds ;
and, second, that with some crops, certain
weeds cannot be prevented from ripening
in them without the infliction of consider-
able injury to the crop amid which they
grow. In any case, however, the hope of

Gra^e With Sheep. 93

having a clean farm is a vain one if noxious
weeds are allowed to ripen upon it even in
quantities ever so limited. If any weeds
are allowed to ripen their seeds, the farm
will never be wholly clean, notwithstanding
the fact that the number of weeds may be
very considerably reduced.

16. Graze off several crops in succession
with sheep. There is probably no more
effective method of fighting weeds, espe-
cially annuals, than by growing two or three
crops in succession the same season and
grazing them down with sheep. To do this
effectively it is necessary to have two or
three fields or enclosures, in which there
can be alternation in production and in graz-
ing. The following are among the advan-
tages of this method of attacking weeds :
Germination is encouraged in the seeds,
especially in the seeds of annuals that may
be lying in the soil ; the weeds thus germi-
nated are eaten by the sheep along with the
other grazing; a very large quantity of
grazing relatively may thus be produced
from a small area of land ; the land is thus
put in excellent condition for growing the
grain crops that will follow such grazing.
Among the crops best adapted to provide

94 Weeds.

such grazing are winter rye and other
small grains, rape, corn, and sorghum. The
experience of the author in thus fighting
weeds at the Minnesota experiment station
was very satisfactory.

//. Give careful attention to all modes of
weed distribution and propagation. It
was stated in Chapter IV that we cannot
control some of the modes by which weeds
are distributed, that some of them we can
but partially control, and that yet others
are completely under our control. So many
and so varied are the agencies by which
weeds come to us, and so many are the
means by which they are then propagated,
that we cannot afford to give small heed to
any of these agencies and means. It will not
suffice to concentrate our energies on keep-
ing weeds at bay in one direction when at
the same time they come to us in various
other directions. Such a course would be
about as wise as to try to keep out the wa-
ters of a rising tide by closing one breach
in the embankment while several others are
left open. When everything has been done
in this direction, weeds will still come to
us. When this is so, there is only one

Make Thorough Work. 95

resource left to us. This we will now
describe.

18. Make thorough zuork. When the
eradication of weeds is undertaken, the
work should be made as complete as pos-
sible, and be effected in the shortest possi-
ble time. The cheapness of the process
is usually in direct porportion to its com-
pleteness, and to the brevity of the period
occupied in completing it. It is quite pos-
sible to destroy creeping perennials in a
single season, except only as to the seeds
which remain in the soil. It is the lack
of thoroughness in the modes usually
adopted, rather than the modes themselves,
that renders the destruction of this class
of weeds so extremely difficult and so
expensive. As a rule, creeping perennials
are merely checked by the cleaning proc-
esses employed, and by no means destroy-
ed by them. Hence the root-stocks left
in the soil at once commence to grow.
They push out in every direction. They
are carried to and fro with the plow and
spring into life everywhere, so that in from
two to four or five years they have so
possessed the soil again that a similar proc-
ess of reducing them will have to be

g6 Weeds.

undertaken. Whereas, had these weeds
been completely destroyed in one season,
and proper means been taken for remov-
ing those which afterwards came up from
the seeds that remained in the soil when
the cleaning process was being accomplish-
ed, then the cleanliness of the field would
have been maintained, and at a cost that
would have been merely nominal as com-
pared with the cost involved in cleaning
the field anew. The greatest mistake that
can be made in the war with weeds is to
carry it on with a lack of thoroughness,
when once the war has been undertaken.
Men clean at fields rather than clemi them.
They reduce weeds, but do not subdue
them. To make thorough work may seem
costly at the time, but there is no way of
getting rid of weeds so cheaply as when
the work is done in a comparatively short
time.

ig. Maintain cleanliness. Where clean-
liness has once been secured, it should be
maintained from year to year at all haz-
ards. To effect this, two things at least
are required. First, the general manage-
ment of the farm must be good, so that
good crops may ordinarily be grown, and

Maintain Cleanliness. 97

second, every portion of the farm must be
gone over once* or twice a year with the
spud, except that part which is devoted to
hoed crops. The meadows should be gone
over once or twice, according to the weeds
that grow in them and the time at which
the hay is to be cut. If thus gone over
before the time of haymaking, such weeds
as dock, the ox-eye daisy, slieep sorrel, and
plantain, which would otherwise ripen their
seeds, will be destroyed, as well as any oth-
er weeds that may be there. After harvest
they should be gone over again as often
as necessary for the purpose of cutting off
the stray thistles or ragweeds, or any oth-
er kind of weeds that may be trying to
retain a footing. In the same way, the
grain crops should be gone over before
they head. Where these have been sown
with the drill, this may easily be done with-
out injury to the crops. If the grain fields
have also been sown with grass seeds, they
should be gone over again after harvest ;
but this will not be necessary when autumn
cultivation is to follow. Permanent and
other pastures, fence borders, private
roads, and waste places should all be gone
over twice a year with the spud.

98 Weeds.

Notwithstanding the great value of the
spud in maintaining cleanliness on farms,
it must be used with discrimination. When
the weeds are numerous beyond a certain
limit it will not pay to use the spud. What
that limit is will depend somewhat upon
the scarcity of labor, and the difficulty
experienced in securing it and paying for
it. It is not possible to fix a limit that will
apply equally well in every case, but in
the judgment of the writer, unless the
spudder can get over from three to five
acres a day, it is at least an open question
whether some other mode of reducing
weeds should not be resorted to instead.
The spud is designed rather to maintain
cleanliness than to secure it ; although, to
a considerable extent, it is helpful for the
latter purpose also.

The method of procedure in cleaning a
farm, where the work is to be economical-
ly done, will be somewhat as follows :

( I ) The effort must be put forth to pre-
vent any new seeds from maturing on the
farm. It may not be possible to secure this
result at first on all parts of the farm,
owing to the costliness of the work, and to
the amount of labor involved in it ; in time,

Method of Cleaning Farm. 99

however, where judicious measures have
been used, the end will be attained with-
out great difficulty.

(2) One or two fields should be set
aside each year to be cleaned, these being
chosen with reference to the rotation, and
to the resources of the farmer, and the
work of cleaning these fields should be
made as thorough as it would be reasona-
bly possible to make it in one season. As
each field is thus freed from noxious
weeds, cleanliness should be maintamed in
that field by the use of the spud, until, in
the order of the rotation, the field will have
cultivated crops grown upon it, by which
means the cleaning process will be still
further carried on.

(3) The pastures and waste places of
the farm sliould, from the commencement
of the cleaning process, be gone over twice
a year with the spud. If it happens that in
these places the weeds are too numerous
to be dealt with by the spud, the scythe or
the mower should be used instead. In a
few seasons, if thus dealt with, these plac-
es will be quite free from noxious weeds.
The time occupied in cleaning the farm
will depend upon the rotation. It should

loo Weeds.

be practically free from weeds by the end
of the first rotation, counting from the
beginning of the undertaking.

Many farmers, however, look upon the
use of the spud in any way as a chimerical
idea. They object to it on the score of the
cost of the labor involved in its use ; while
the truth, in the mind of the writer at least,
is beyond the shadow of a doubt that by
no other conceivable means can freedom
from noxious weed intrusion be maintain-
ed so cheaply, or, indeed, be maintained at
all. The matter stands thus : In ordinary
practice, the spud is not used. The farmer
selects a field to be cleaned by the bare fal-
low or some other process. Fairly good
work may be done ; but some weeds are
sure to be left in the soil, while also some
seeds of weeds lie there which will ger-
minate and reproduce their kind in abun-
dance. Unless the field be gone over with
the spud after the manner we have here
described, it is entirely probable that in
from three to five years the field will be as
foul with weeds as when taken in hand at
the first. On the other hand, if the spud
is used in the manner that we have indi-

Use of the Spud. loi

cated, all stray weeds will be cut off before
they can do any harm.

The cost of maintaining freedom from
weed intrusion, where once a state of
cleanliness has been attained, should not
be more than $30 or $40 a year for every
one hundVed acres of land. This estimate
is based on the supposition that all the
methods of cultivating and managing the
crops grown upon the hundred acres are
as they ought to be.

With respect to the cost of the weed-
cleaning process, it may be mentioned here
that when a state of cleanliness has once
been secured, the cost of maintaining this
state of cleanliness by means of the spud
is the only direct charge to be made, for
the expense incurred in cleaning crops and
in destroying weeds by all the other means
described in these pages should be more
than met by the increased returns which
the crops will show by reason of the
improved cultivation which the weed-clean-
ing process necessitates. On the assump-
tion that every part of a one hundred acre
farm be gone over twice a year to keep
it free from weeds, and on the further
reasonable assumption that the cost of

102 Weeds.

labor involved in doing this for a day of
ten hours is from $1.50 to $2.00, the entire
outlay for the whole work would not be
more than the sum already named, $30 to
$40. . When once a farm has become fair-
ly clean, a workman should easily be able
to go over it with a spud at the rate of ten
acres a day. That this is possible has been
demonstrated over and over again, in the
experience of the writer, in the work of
cleaning the Ontario Agricultural Experi-
ment Station Farm at Guelph. Ten acres
have been frequently gone over in half a
day, and in one instance twenty acres were
done, but these results grew out of more
than ordinary efifort and arc to be regarded
as exceptional. One person can, however,
easily get over ten acres in a day, even
when some hundreds or even thousands
of weeds are to be destroyed. Twenty
days thus employed should take the spud-
der over the farm twice, hence the cost
would not be more tlian the sum named.
The whole farm would not, however,
require to be gone over thus twice a year.
One field of the farm would probably be
devoted to a cultivated crop, and v/ould
not require any spudding. Several fields

Use of the Spud. 103

which had produced grain would not
require to be gone over more than once,
for the reason that th^y would be plowed
or cultivated soon after harvest as a part
of the "autumn cultivation," and pastures
would soon become so clean that one spud-
ding in a season would suffice for them
also. Hence the outlay for spudding
should not be more than $25 a year.

It is certainly unfortunate that the spud
is so little known, and so little used in per-
fecting and maintaining cleanliness upon
farms. It is well to remember that those
who are most averse to using the spud
are usually those who have never used it,
and that those who have once tried it fair-
ly are always unwilling thenceforth to
abandon its use.

A little reflection will make it clear that
the spud is of the greatest use in maintain-
ing cleanliness on a farm. Suppose a ten-
acre field in which a crop is growing has
only a few thistles in it — so iew, perhaps,
that the farmer thinks it scarcely w^orth
w^hile to do anything with them. But it
may, at the same time, have some dock
plants in it, and a few stalks of mustard,
a small number of ragw^eeds, and a few

104 Weeds.

A

other noxious weeds ; while in the
fence corners there may be some
burdocks or cockle burs. Now, in
one day, one person can remove all
these weeds with the spud. If this
be done, the thousands and tens of
thousands of seeds which these
plants would have produced never
come into existence, and the future
infinite supply of these weeds is
also effectually checked. A corre-
sponding saving in the labor that
would otherwise have been ulti-
mately required in subduing these
weeds is also effected.

It may not be amiss here to de-
scribe that form of the spud which
in the estimation of the writer, is
best adapted to the uses of the
farmer. The chisel spud as usually
made, may be described as follows :
It consists of a light round handle,
resembling that of a broom, and of
a blade which is shaped somewhat
like that of a chisel, but more tap-
ering from the end of the blade
to the junction with the handle. Its chtd

Spud

Use of the Spud. 105

length is about five feet from the upper
end of the handle to the cutting end of the
blade. The blade is about eight inches long
from the cutting end to the shoulder, and
about two and half inches broad at the cut-
ting end, and five-eighths of an inch broad
at the shoulder. The blade should be thin,
not necessarily more than a quarter of an
inch at the shoulder, and still thinner as
the cutting end is approached. The blade
is fitted into the handle in the same way
as a common hoe. The implement is very
light, so that it is in no way burdensome
to carry.

In few kinds of labor on the farm are
quickness and sureness of movement more
important than in the use of the spud.
When using the spud in a grain crop, the
spudder walks astride of a row of grain,
the feet being placed between the drills,
so that trampling is avoided. He walks
along the lines of the drill in which he
first enters, and cuts below the surface of
the ground all the noxious weeds that may
be found within six feet on either side of
him. A strip is thus taken at one time of
about twelve feet in width. On the return

io6 Weeds.

trip, he walks in the center of an adjoin-
ing strip of equal width, and proceeds in
this manner until the whole field is gone
over.

The spudder should always carry with
him a short file, to be used for sharpening
the spud whenever this may be necessary.
The frequency of the sharpenings will
depend on the nature of the soil; but it is
greatly important that a good cutting edge
be constantly kept. The file should never
be forgotten, especially in stony soils, as
the spudder never can know how soon he
may want it.

Simple as the work may appear, there
is great opportunity for the exercise of
dexterity in using the spud. One person
will so use it in a grain field that very lit-
tle of the grain will be either trampled upon
or cut off, whereas another would make
constant havoc in both these respects. It
is matter for surprise how large and strong
a weed root can be severed by the spud
when it is dexterously used. Burdock
roots tw^o inches in diameter may be easily
severed when the spudder is well skilled in
his work.

Use of the Bare Falloiv. 107

MODES OF DOUBTFUL ADVANTAGE.

Modes of destroying weeds are some-
times widely practiced of which it may be
said that, even when all things are consid-
ered, the benefits arising from them are
of doubtful character. Two of these will
now be dealt with, namely, (i) the bare
fallow; and (2) the fermentation of farm-
yard or stable manure. Both of these may
on occasion be made very helpful in the
work of eradicating weeds, but in the
opinion of the writer they both are costly
modes, and they both can usually be dis-
pensed with.

/. The hare fallow. In destroying
weeds, the bare fallow has rendered good
service in the past, and where it is properly
managed it is a very effective mode, espe-
cially for creeping perennials.

Since the bare fallow method as usually
practiced requires the land to lie unused
during the whole season in "summer fal-
low" so that a crop cannot be raised the
same season, it is evident that the method
is a very expensive one ; in fact, far too
expensive, when compared with some of
the other modes of fighting weeds which
have been previously treated of in this

io8 Weeds.

chapter. Where these other and less
expensive modes are faithfully practiced,
it will be unnecessary to resort to the bare
fallow for the purposes of weed destruction.

When it is thought necessary to resort to
the bare fallow, let it be in some modified
form ; that is to say, let some crop be grown
the same season, before or after the fallow-
ing is done. When a late crop is grown, as
one of millet or of rape, during the portion
of the season prior to the sowing of that
crop the ground may be fallowed with
excellent results, both in the destruction of
the weeds and in the preparation of the soil
for the crop that is to come after. Simi-
larly, other crops which mature early in
the season may be followed by the bare fal-
low for the rest of the season, and so
secure nearly all the benefits of the ordi-
nary bare fallow without the missing of a
crop. These early-maturing crops include
rye, winter wheat, and barley.

In the same way, pastures may be eaten
off until some time in June, and then be
plowed and worked on the surface, with
great injury to the weeds, until it is time
to sow winter wheat. The same course
may be adopted with early-cut meadows,

Use of the Bare Fallozv. 109

with almost equally good results. Where
winter wheat is not grown, the length of
the season left for working this sort of fal-
low is much increased, and such a bare fal-
low, coming after any of the crops above
mentioned, will be very effective in
destroying weeds. It should be remarked
that this mode of fallowing so nearly
resembles what has been previously
described as ''autumn cultivation" that it
may better be referred to by that designa-
tion.

The costliness of the bare fallow does
not all arise from the fact that a great
amount of labor is expended without get-
ting a crop the same season; especially in
seasons when much rain falls, there is also
a serious loss incurred from nitrates leach-
ing out of the soil — a loss which would
be almost entirely prevented if a crop were
grown upon the land. Inasmuch as the
bare fallow reduces the humus in the soil,
the soil becomes more compact in conse-
quence. The bare fallow entails, therefore,
(i) the loss of a crop; (2) a certain loss
of fertility by reason of the leaching out
of nitrates; and (3) increased impaction of
the soil. It is obvious, then, that in our

i lo Weeds.

fight with weeds we should resort to the
bare fallow only in cases of extreme neces-
sity.

Where the bare fallow is resorted to as
a means of destroying weeds, the work
should be done most thoroughly, especi-
ally so far as creeping perennials are con-
cerned. Where these are only partially
destroyed, the residue remaining in the soil
are given most favorable conditions for
lateral root extension, and hence for future
multiplication.

In the opinion of the writer, the fallow-
ing process should, whenever possible, be
accompanied by the growing of green crops
for the purpose of enriching the soil while
the process of fallowing is going on. For
instance, a crop of rye may be sown in the
autumn and plowed under the following
spring; this may at once be followed by a
crop of peas, buckwheat, rape or some
other quick-growing crop, which in turn
may be plowed under. The weeds will be
greatly reduced by this modification of the
bare fallow, and the land will at the same
time be much improved in fertility and in
its mechanical texture.

Fermenting Manure. iii

i>

2. Fermenting manure. Where farm-
yard or stable manure is fermented, the
process may render substantial service in
destroying the germinating powers of the
weed seeds found in it, but the price paid
is probably too costly. Manure cannot be
sufficiently fermented to destroy the seeds
of weeds present in it, except with the
result of the removal of much of its most
useful properties, more especially of the
nitrogen, its most valuable constituent.
The reduction of manure in the soil where
it is to remain is attended with so many
advantages of a mechanical and chemical
nature that, whenever practicable, the
reducing process should always be effected
there, rather than in the farmyard, or in
wasting heaps in the field.

Fermenting manure, therefore, with the
object of destroying weeds, should never
be resorted to unless the seeds of some
especially troublesome sorts are known to
be present in it in unusually large quanti-
ties. As a rule it is not necessary to resort
to the process at all, for if the modes of
fighting weeds that have been already
pointed out are faithfully practiced, the
seeds that will at lengrth be found in the

112 Weeds.

manure will be reduced to an insignificant
quantity. In this connection it is well to
remark that on account of the danger there
is of bringing weed seeds to farms where
purchased stable manure is used, it may be
more judicious, where increased fertility
is desired, to purchase artificial fertilizers
rather than stable manure.

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Alfalfa, Book of, . 2.00

CHAPTER VI.

SPECIFIC MODES OF ERADICATING WEEDS OF
THE THISTLE FAMILY.

This chapter and those which follow deal
with specific modes of destroying certain
kinds of weeds which infest the northern
part of the United States. Most of these
weeds are also troublesome in Canada.
Some are local in their distribution, while
others are found in greater or less numbers
from the Atlantic to the Pacific. While
the general methods of weed destruction
described in the previous chapter are as a
rule equally applicable to all weeds, the
specific modes described in this and the
following chapters are especially helpful
when applied to the weeds for which they
are intended.

It should be remembered, however, that
the modes described, here as especially
applicable to certain weeds will also apply
to all other weeds not specifically men-

114 Weeds.

tioned which may closely resemble these
in their habits of growth.

The weeds which are dibcussed in this
chapter are all included in the thistle or
sunflower family. This is the largest fam-
ily of flowering plants, including some ten
or twelve thousand species in all parts of
the world. The individual flowers are
usually small and inconspicuous. They are
arranged together in considerable numbers
in heads at the ends of the stalks. These
heads are quite commonly regarded as
single flowers, as those of the daisy, the
dandelion, or the thistle, but in reality they
are made up of a very large number of
minute flowers. The family includes many
of our most valuable economic and medic-
inal plants, as well as many of our worst
weeds.

The six weeds here discussed are among
the most troublesome to the farmer. They
are the Canada thistle, the perennial sozo
thistle, the ox-eye daisy, the burdoek, the
rag'-ci'eed, and the 7cild lettnce. The spe-
cific modes here described of dealing with
these weeds and those which are discussed
in the chapters which follow are nearly all
based on the actual experience of the

Description of the Canada Thistle. 115

writer; hence they are submitted with a
degree of confidence which could not be
felt were they based merely on theories,
however correct these theories might be.

An outline sketch is given of each of the
weeds dealt with. This' sketch was in
every case prepared from living specimens
of the weed illustrated. The root develop-
ment of each plant is shown, as well as that
of the portion above ground. In the work
of exterminating weeds, a knowledge of
their habits of root growth is frequently
of quite as much importance as a knowl-
edge of the growth habits of the portions
of the plant ordinarily visible to the eye.

(l) THE CANADA THISTLE.

The Canada thistle (Carduus arvensis)
is a creeping perennial which grows from
one to four feet high, according as soils
and seasons vary. It is of an upright habit
of growth, somewhat branched towards
the top, especially when it is not much
crowded, but when it is pressed for room
it has but a single stem. Its leaves are
armed with sharp prickles, which, either
when green or dry, but more especially
when dry, are exceedingly unpleasant to
handle. Its blossoms are of a beautiful
crimson, and have a pleasing fragrance.

ii6 Weeds.

The Canada thistle comes up early in
May, and continues to grow until the time
of severe frost in autumn. It comes into
blossom in July and August, and matures
its seeds principally in the latter month,
but sometimes also in the former. When
cut off above or just a little below the sur-
face of the ground, it will at once put forth
sprouts below the point of excision, several
sprouts thus coming up around the parent
stem.

The Canada thistle will grow in almost
all kinds of soils, but it docs not find a con-
genial home in mucks with moist bottoms.
It grows in all kinds of crops that are pro-
duced in this country. Its seeds ripen with
those of all the cereals, several of the clo-
vers, and timothy and some other grasses.

The Canada thistle is propagated by
means both of its seeds and of its creeping
root-stocks, but more especially by means
of the latten? Its root-stocks penetrate the
soil in every direction, and in open soils to
distances that are almost incredible. These
root-stocks bear numerous latent buds,
which, as soon as the root-stocks become
broken, at once start to grow, even under

Description of the Canada Thistle. 117

the least favorable conditions. Its seeds
are not only carried incredible distances by
the wind, but they are also distributed
everywhere by means of the seeds of all
kinds of cereal grains and of several of the

THE CANADA THISTLE.

clovers and grasses, among which they
ripen. They are also distributed by means
of manure.

ii8 Weeds.

Modes of Eradication.

The following are some of the most
effective modes of dealing with tliis most
pernicious weed :

1. Modifying the rotation. Until the
fields infested with the thistle can be spe-
cifically dealt with by one of the modes
described below, drop out of the rotation,
so far as practicable, all crops which will
allow the thistle seeds to ripen before they
can be cut.

2. Autumn plozuing and spring cultiva-
tion, foUoived by corn or some other culti-
vated crop. Plow the land immediately
after harvest. Plow shallow with any kind
of plow that will cut the thistles off clean
ivithout breaking up the creeping root-
stocks. Keep the thistles from showing
above ground until the late autumn plow-
ing, which should be deep for the sake of
the crop that is to come after. In the
spring, keep the thistles under by the use
of a suitable cultivator until the time for
planting the cultivated crop. Give this
crop sufficient cultivation to insure a good
yield, and take pains to keep the thistles
that spring up in the line of the rows cut

Eradication of the Canada Thistle. 119

off by hand hoeing. Go over the crop with
the hand hoe, if necessary, once or twice
after the horse cultivation has ceased; and,
if the work up to this point has been well
done, there should not be one thistle left,
provided the season has been a dry one.
The most effective part of the work, how-
ever, will have been done the preceding
autumn.

J. August ploi^nng, follozccd by zvintcr
rye cut early, and this agaiji by a cultivated
crop. Plow the ground deeply in August,
as early in the month as practicable. Sow
rye early in September at the rate of two
and one-half to three bushels per acre. Cut
the rye the following spring, as soon as
it is headed out, for soiling or for winter
fodder. Then plow the ground deeply with
any kind of plow that will effectively bury
the stubble, and harrow at once to conserve
the moisture. Harrow once a week until
it is time to drill the ground for rape or
some other quick-growing cultivated crop.
Then cuftivate and care for the crop as
described in section 2 above. In the experi-
ence of the writer, this mode of destroying
the Canada thistle has proved very effec-
tive, but it is not well suited to stiff soils

I20 Weeds.

which will not readily grow cuUivated
crops.

Another way is to sow the rye in
August, and then pasture it both autumn
and spring, before the ground is plowed
for the following crop. This mode is not
quite so effective as the one just described,
inasmuch as the rye when pastured does
not so effectually weaken the thistles by
smothering them as when it is grown for
fodder or for the silo.

On the Ontario Agricultural College
Experiment Station farm at Guelph, this-
tle-infested fields have been so effectively
cleaned by the mode of treatment recom-
mended here that in the following year one
person could go over twenty acres in from
ten to fifteen hours, and remove with a
spud all the noxious weeds found in the
grain crop which followed the rape.

4. Breaking up pasture land or meadoiv
and sowing to fall zvlieat and clover. Plow
pasture land in June, or plow land from
which a crop of hay has been removed, as
soon as possible after the crop has been
harvested. Work the plowed ground upon
the surface, so that all thistles will be kept
under until the time arrives for sowing

Emdication of the Canada Thistle. 121

winter wheat. In the spring, sow clover
in the wheat crop, and after one, two, or
three crops of clover have been grown
repeat the same rotation. This method is
applicable to stifif soils where v/inter wheat
is a leading crop, and is especially success-
ful where the land first broken up was
clover sod. In localities where winter
wheat will not grow, substitute for the win-
ter wheat either spring wheat or barley,
as may be desired. There \\\\\ then be
ample time for autumn cultivation after the
sod land has been broken up ; if this time is
well employed, a great gain in the conflict
wMth the thistles will have been effected.

5. Smothering by a clover crop, ivith a
cultivated crop foUozuing. Where land has
been sown to clover, cut the crop twice for
hay, or once for hay and once for seed.
Then follow with a properly cultivated
corn or root crop. The smothering influ-
ence of the two growths of clover, com-
bined wMth the efTect of the two cuttings
necessitated, will be found of much service
in w^eakening the thistles.

6. Using the spud. When the thistles
have been well brought under, they should
be kept under by the use of the spud. The

122 Weeds.

grain fields should be gone over before
harvest to prevent the thistles from blos-
soming, and the meadows and fields sown
with grasses should be similarly dealt with
after harvest. To spud thistles before their
blossoming season will not in itself be
found of much service in destroying them ;
but when they are cut with the spud an
inch or more below the surface of the soil
at that stage of their development, and are
again cut in the same way later on, the
effects as regards tlieir destruction are very
beneficial. In the experience of the writer,
when thistles have been thus cut two or
three times a year, they have been found
to disappear entirely from pastures, fence
borders, lanes, and waste-places generally.

y. Removing thistles from permanent
pastures. In removing thistles from per-
manent pastures, our mode of procedure
must be governed largely by the character
of the soil and subsoil. In stifif clays, two
or three mowings a year for as many years
will cause them to disappear, but on lands
with open subsoils the spud will also have
to be resorted to.

Observation. The facts relating to an
experiment in removing Canada thistles

Eradication of the Canada Thistle. 123

and other noxious weeds from a perma-
nent pasture in the Ontario Agricultural
College Experiment Station farm at
Guelph may prove interesting. The field
contained twenty acres, and had been for
several years in permanent pasture, and
was badly smitten. The experiment com-
menced in the summer of 1889, and the
work was superintended by the writer, who
also took part in it. The facts, as given
in the annual report of the station for 189 1,
p. 50, are as follows : "The first spudding
in 1889 took fully 100 hours of one per-
son. The second si)udding took 80 hours.
In 1890 the first spudding was done on July
9th and loth, and took 40 hours. The sec-
ond spudding was done from August 26th
to September 7th, and took ^2 hours. In
1891 the first spudding w^as done on July
1 8th, and took 7 hours. The second spud-
ding was done on about the last day of
September, and took 6 hours. The cost of
cleaning the field — for it is now clean — was
$22.50 in 1889, $9.00 in 1890, and $i.62>^
in 1891 ; or a total, for the three years, of
$33.i2j/< for the 20 acres. The labor was
valued at $1.25 per day of 10 hours, with-
out board." The annual cost of maintain-

124 Weeds.

ing cleanliness in this field, so long as it
remains a pasture, should not be more
than $2.50.

(2) THE sow THISTLE.

There are several varieties of the sow
thistle, but some of them do not give much
trouble to the cultivator of the soil, and
it will be sufficient for our purpose here to
speak only of the variety known as the
perennial or corn sow thistle {Sonchns
arvcnsisy, as it is the only form of this weed
which is very difficult to eradicate. The
corn sow thistle is a creeping perennial,
while nearly all the other varieties of the
sow thistle are annuals. The plant has an
upright habit of growth, and grows from
one to three feet high, but when the soil
is quite congenial it sometimes reaches a
greater height. Like the Canada thistle,
the perennial sow thistle is somewhat
branched towards the top. Its stems are
rather hairy or bristly, especially its flower
stems ; they are hollow, and when bruised
a milky fluid exudes from them. The
prickles upon its leaves are harmless. Its
blossoms are yellow, and the plants are
great producers of seed.

Description of the Sozv Thistle. 125

The perennial sow thistle makes its
appearance in May, and continues to grow
until the autumn. It blossoms in July,
and ripens its seeds in July and August.
It will grow in any kind of soil, but it is

THE PERENNIAL SOW THISTLE

most at home in rich moist loams, and
gives least trouble in stiff clays.

The perennial sow thistle, Hke the Can-
ada thistle, infests all kinds of crops, and
it ripens its seeds somewhat earlier than,
or simultaneously with, tlie crops amid
which it grows ; the only crops of which

126 Weeds.

this statement is not true being, probably,
red clover and alfalfa.

It is propagated by means of its seeds,
which are able to float about in the air by
reason of the downy attachment which
they possess. As its seeds are very numer-
ous, its numbers increase very rapidly in
the neighborhood of any place where once
they are allowed to ripen. It is an open
question if they have the power of sus-
taining a long flight, like the seeds of the
Canada thistle. The perennial sow thistle
is also propagated with much rapidity by
means of its root-stocks, which are numer-
ous and which, like those of the Canada
thistle, are "creepers" bearing a very large
number of latent buds, as is shown in the
sketch. Its seeds, like those of the Can-
ada thistle, are constantly being widely
distributed by being carried about with the
seeds of cereals, clovers, and grasses.

Modes of Eradieation.

The means to be taken for destroying
this intruder are essentially the same as
those 'described for the eradication of the
Canada thistle, and therefore need not be
repeated here.

Description of the Ox-eye Daisy. 127

(3) THE OX-EYE DAIS/.

The ox-eye daisy {Chrysanthemum leu-
canthemum) is a simple perennial with a
branching habit of growth. It grows from
one to two feet high, according to soil and
crop conditions, but usually it does not grow
much more than one foot in height. It pro-
duces large flowers, consisting of a yellow
disc bordered with white rays. The fan-
cied resemblance of the disc in the center
to the eye of an ox has probably given rise
to the name. The flowers, sometimes called
"Marguerites," have been much in favor for
bouquets during recent years. The plant,
however, is none the less a pestilent weed.
It is a great producer of seed.

The ox-eye daisy is very hardy. It can
resist in a marked degree the influences of
lieat, cold, and drought. It commences to
blossom in May or June, according to the
locality, and under some conditions it will
continue to blossom as late as September.
The seeds have, in an uncommon degree,
the power of maturing on the stalk, even
when the stalks have been pulled out of the
ground or cut off from their roots before
the seeds are quite ripe, and they also pos-

128 Weeds.

sess great vitality. Although the plants
may appear but singly at first, yet if they
are allowed to ripen their seeds, these fall
to the ground and grow up again so thickly
that to eradicate the weed by spudding is
almost impossible. Hence, in pastures and
waste places where cultivation cannot be
introduced, the ox-eye daisy is an extremely
difficult weed to deal with. It is not relished
by live stock, owing in part to the woody
nature of its growth, but they will browse
on it to some extent when it is young.

The ox-eye daisy grows in all soils, but
is most vigorous and troublesome in those
of loose texture. It infests all kinds of
crops, and it also grows where the land is
not cultivated, as in permanent pastures,
and in waste places generally. It is most
difficult of eradication in permanent pas-
tures and meadows, more especially as these
grow older, since the roots of the daisies
then become much interlaced with those of
the crops amid which they grow. It is least
troublesome in cultivated crops, and these
are very effective in destroying it.

This weed is distributed entirely by
means of its seed. It is most commonly
carried about in the seeds of timothy and

Description of the Ox-eye Daisy. 129

some kinds of clover, but it is also distrib-
uted through the agency of the cereal

THE OX-EYE DAISY.

grains. It is often taken from field to field
on the farm in the manure, and is also car-
ried about to some extent by birds.

130 Weeds.

Modes of Eradication.

The following are the modes ei eradica-
tion that have been found most successful
in dealing with the ox-eye daisy:

1. Modifying the rotation. Drop meadow
out of the rotation until the infested fields
have been dealt with.

2. August plozving, follozved by zvinjer
rye cut early, and this again by a cultivated
crop. Grow a crop of rye followed by a
cultivated crop, as described in section 3
above, wdiere we treated of the methods of
destroying the Canada thistle. The plow-
ing in June will turn under the daisies that
may have been in the rye, and the stirring
of the soil necessary to the cultivation of
the crop will be favorable to the germina-
tion of the seeds of the weed that may be
lying in the soil dormant.

J. Plozving up ineadozv land and plant-
ing to a cultivated crop. In the case of
meadow land which is infested wit-h the
wee\i, pasture it until the middle of June ;
then plow it deeply and plant to some culti-
vated crop, taking pains to cultivate it with
sufficient care. The daisies are thus turned
under before they have had an opportunity

Eradication of the Ox-eye Daisy. 131

to ripen their seeds. It may be necessary to
grow a crop of corn or of roots the follow-
ing year in order to complete the work.

4. After-harvest and autumn cultivation,
follozved by spring cultivation and a cul-
tivated crop. V\o\\ the infested field lightly
after harvest, and then again deeply just
before winter. In the interval give the
soil one or more harrowings to induce the
daisy seeds to germinate. In the spring,
follow this preparation with a cultivated
crop, and this, if necessary, next year, by
another cultivated crop.

5. Solving to rye for pasture or hay,
foUoiving by millet, or bare fallozv and
ivinter zvheat. Sow the infested field with
rye, and pasture the rye until June, or cut
it for hay. Follow^ the rye with a crop of
millet; or, if thought best, work the
ground on the bare fallow system until
winter wdieat may be sown in September.
Where it may not be desired to grow win-
ter wheat, the occasional stirring of the
soil should be continued until the close of
the season, that the w^eed seeds lying in the
soil may be made to germinate. Then
next season some kind of spring cereal may
be grown.

132 Weeds.

6. Growing a cultivated crop and fol-
lowing by a grain crop soivn to meadow.
If a cultivated crop is grown with a view
to the destruction of the weed, then it
should be followed by a grain crop, which
should also be sown with clover, or clover
and grass. The grain crop should then be
gone over with the spud, and any daisies
found in it be cut off. Spudding will prob-
ably be necessary in the meadow which fol-
lows the grain crop, more especially during
the first year of its growth. The best time
for spudding the ox-eye daisy is when it
is in blossom, as at that time the weeds are
very easily seen.

When spudding the ox-eye daisy, it may
sometimes be necessary to catch the plant
with the hand and strike it over the spud
handle to free the adherent earth from the
fibrous roots of the weed which have been
cut off with it.

7. In permanent pastures, etc. Wher-
ever practicable pasture-lands that are
infested with ox-eye daisy should be broken
up and dealt with in one or other of the
methods described above. In pasture-
lands which cannot be cultivated and there-
fore must remain permanent, along fence

Description of the Bur doc}?. 133

borders, on the sides of roads, and in waste
places generally, it is difficult indeed to
deal with this pest. Any plan that will
prevent it from maturing its seeds will in
time prove effectual, but several years will
probably elapse before the weed will be
fully banished from such places.

(4) THE BURDOCK.

The burdock (Arctium lappa) is so well
known and so easily managed, if the work
of destroying it is gone about properly,
that it would seem almost superfluous to
write about the modes that will prove effect-
ive for its extermination, yet there is no
denying the fact that the burdock is one
of the most general of the weed abomina-
tions which disgrace the farms of today.
It is a biennial, the leaves of which are
very large even in the early stages of the
growth of the plant. Its seed is borne on
a branched stem, which pushes up from
amid the center of the leaves to a height
of from two to five feet. The first year
of its growth, the burdock, being a bien-
nial, does not produce any seeds, but in the
second year it produces them in immense
numbers. The seeds are matured in

134

Weeds.

enclosures at the end of the branches of
the stems. The seed sacs, circular in
shape, are so armed with hooks that they
adhere to almost everything with which
thev come in contact. Hence we find them

THE BURDOCK.

The large plant in the sketch represents the burdock in the dead

state, after it has perfected its growth.

clinging in large numbers to the hair of
horses and cattle that pasture where they
grow, and also to the wool of sheep, which
they oftentimes render practically valueless.

Description of the Burdock. 135

The burdock sends a strong tap root
down into the soil wherever the natural or
artificial drainage is good, hence it does not
suffer readily from dry weather. The root
as shown in the sketch is broken off. The
burdock comes into flower chiefly in the
months of June and July, but more espe-
cially in the latter month. If cut off above
the crown, even after the seed pods are
formed, young shoots will be thrown up
around the parent stem, and seed be
matured sometimes within a few inches of
the surface of the ground, and even many
weeks after the harvest season is over.
It is forgetfulness of this fact, more than
anything else, which allows this plant so
long to retain its hold in our fields.

The burdock will grow in nearly all soils
that are free from ground water. No other
weed, perhaps, is found in so many of the
provinces and states of our continent. It
is pre-eminently the weed of the outlying
and neglected portions of cities, towns and
villages, and it is much prone to intrench
itself along the fence borders and in the
waste places of the farm, but it does not
give much trouble where the soil is well
cultivated.

136 Weeds.

The burdock is propagated solely by
means of its seed, which is possessed of
much vitality. It is very generally distrib-
uted through the agency of domestic ani-
mals, to the hair and wool of which its
seeds most readily adhere. If a burdock
plant is left undisturbed, so that its seeds
ripen upon its stems, it sheds them upon
the ground about it, and there they will
continue to give trouble for years after.

Modes of Eradication.

The following are the modes of eradica-
tion that have been found most successful
in dealing with the burdock :

/. In cultivated fields. Where the bur-
dock is found in cultivated fields, it will of
course be cut off with the hay or grain
amid which it grows. When thus cut
during the first year of its growth, the
plant is but little injured, and when mowed
off during the second year it at once pushes
up fresh stems and ripens its seeds in great
numbers, as already mentioned. Although
the farmer may not notice this, the ripened
burs will not fail to find lodgment in the
hair of his cattle and the wool of his sheep
when they feed upon the aftermath or

Description of Wild Lettuce. 137

gleanings. The only way to prevent this
late ripening of the seeds is to go over the
fields once or twice after the harvest is
over, and cut off with the spud all plants
that seem likely to produce seed that season.
2. In pennanent pastures, waste places,
lanes, etc. In permanent pastures, and along
fences, in lanes, and around the corners or
farm buildings, and in the borders of wood-
lands, the plants must be destroyed by the
use of the spud. In cutting them, however,
great care must be taken to strike them
below the crown. If this be done the plants
-will die, no matter what their previous
growth may have been. The spudding may
be done at any time of the year when the
ground is not frozen, but during the second
year the cutting must, of course, take place
before the plants form their seeds. A few
years -of this persistent spudding will soon
get to the last of them. Farmers who go
over their fields twice a year with the spud
will not long be troubled with burdocks.

(5) WILD LETTUCE.

The various species of wild lettuce (Lac-
tuca virosa, Lactuca scariola, and related
species) are annuals or biennials. The

138 Weeds,

most troublesome of them (L. virosa)
appears first to have obtained a foothold on
this continent in the Atlantic states, but
has traveled v^estward at a rapid rate. It
is now common in many sections of the
United States. The branches are numerous,
and on good soils strong plants will attain
the height of from 5 to 6 feet, but on ordi-
nary soils the average height will not be
more than 3 feet. The blossoms are a pale
yellow, and a vigorous plant is capable of
bearing from 8,000 to 10,000 seeds. The
seeds are provided with a downy attach-
ment which enables them to float in the air,
hence they may be carried by the winds to
almost any distance.

Wild lettuce comes up early rather than
late in the season. It matures its seeds in
midsummer. If the plants are cut out
before they have reached the blooming stage
they will at once send up other branches
which in turn will produce seeds. Horses
and cattle will crop it off to some extent in
pasture, but they are not fond of it.

Wild lettuce will grow on various soils,
but rich loams sustam it in best form. It
does not give much trouble in grain crops
or cultivated crops, but grows freely in

Description of Wild Lettuce. 139

WILD LETTUCE.

I40 Weeds.

meadows and pastures, on road sides, along
fence borders and in other waste places.

Wind is the principal agent in distribut-
ing the seeds of wild lettuce, but the seeds
may also be distributed along with those of
clover and some of the grasses.

Modes of Eradication.

The following are the modes of eradi-
cation that have been found most success-
ful in dealing with wild lettuce :

1. Modifying the rotation. Drop meadow
and pasture out of the rotation for a time
and grow cultivated crops. This will only
be necessary with fields infested with the
weed.

2. Mozving and spudding. Cut the
plants off with the scythe or mower with
sufficient frequency to prevent them from
maturing seeds. When they are not numer--
ous they may be easily destroyed by cut-
ting them off with the spud an inch or two
below the surface of the earth.

Observations, (i) Wild lettuce is not
difficult of eradication where care is taken
to prevent the maturing of the seeds. (2)
Farms cannot be kept free from it in an

Description of Ragzveed and Kinghcad. 141

infested neighborhood, without concen-
trated action on the part of the farmers.

(6) RAGWEED.

Ragweed (Ambrosia artcmisicefolia) and
kinghead {Ambrosia trifida) are annual
plants, with slender, much-branched stems.
There are several varieties of ragweed, but
the varfety represented in the sketch and
the one known as kinghead are by far the
most troublesome ones. Ragweed more
commonly grows to the height of from
fifteen to twenty-one inches, though in
some soils it will, under favorable conditions,
grow to the height of four feet. King-
head is usually more vigorous, growing
from three to six feet high. The blossoms
have a yellow^ish tinge, but the contrast in
color between them and the leaves is not
marked. The seeds are small and helmet-
shaped, and when ripe are of a dark hue.
They are produced on the lower portions
of the flower-bearing parts of the branches,
and are very numerous. They are so light
that they float readily in water, and they
are possessed of great vitality.

These weeds usually do not develop
until late in the season ; they sometimes do

142 Weeds.

COMMON RAGWEED.

Description of Ragivecd and Kinghcad. 143

not ripen their seeds in grain crops before
these are harvested, or in meadows before
the time of cutting. In the stubbles of
these crops, if not disturbed, they continue
to grow until late in the season. The blos-
soms and seeds are produced from July
till frost, the precise time of blossoming
varying with the attendant conditions of
growth.

These weeds will grow in all soils that
are free from stagnant water, but they
very much prefer friable or loamy soils
that contain a large proportion of humus.
They revel in black loams and muck soils
that have been well drained, but do not
make much headway in stiff clays, except
in depressions and valleys, or along water
furrows and watercourses.

While ragweed will grow in all kinds of
crops, it does not usually mature its seeds
in grain crops, nor does it mature them in
the first cutting for the season in a clover
meadow. In rich soils, as in the Red River
\'alley, the^rank growth of these weeds in
grain fields makes them' serious pests. In
all kinds of stubble they push on rapidly
after the crop has been removed, and if
not disturbed, produce an enormous crop

44

Weeds.

KINGHEAD OR GREAT RAGWEED.

Description of Ragweed and Kinghead. 145

of seeds before the season closes ; and in
cultivated crops, as corn or roots, they will
also produce seed abundantly if due atten-
tion is not given to cultivation late in the
season.

Ragweed and kinghead are distributed in
the seeds of all the late-maturing cereals,
and in the seed of mammoth and alsike
clover, and of timothy. Ragweed is most
commonly distributed in the seed of com-
mon red clover, for the reason that by
the time the clover crop is harvested for
thrashing a large proportion of the seeds
of the ragweed growing in it have also
ripened. It is in the seed of common red
clover that ragweed is usually carried to
new centers. The seeds of these weeds
are also distributed by the excrement of
animals, by clover hullers and by birds.
In localities w'here these w^eeds once get a
foothold, no agent is so potent in effecting
their distribution as water. In low-lying,
level lands, their distribution soon becomes
as wide as the range of the w^ater which
overflow's them. The water in its subsi-
dence leaves the seeds scattered every-
where over the soil. It is impossible,
therefore, to keep entirely free from these

146 Weeds.

weeds those parts of a farm which are sub-
jected to a periodical overflow of water
coming down from lands where they
abound. The most that can be done, under
such circumstances, is to keep them cut
down as they spring up, so that they can-
not mature their seeds.

Modes of Eradication.

The following are the modes of eradica-
tion that have been found most successful
in dealing with ragweed and kinghead.

/. Modifying the rotation and autumn
cultivation. Modify the rotation, and give
special attention to autumn cultivation.
Happily, the rotation will not require seri-
ous modification where careful attention is
given to the working of the soil in autumn,
but late-ripening cereals should not be
grown in the meantime, nor should timothy
nor any of the forms of clover be allowed
to produce a seed crop in the infested fields
until the ragweed is much reduced. As
soon as the cereal crops are harvested, the
ground should be plowed or disked. It
may then be occasionally stirred until the
late plowing that is given on the approach
of winter. Autumn cultivation is peculiarly

Eradication of Ragweed and Kinghead. 147

helpful in destroying these weeds, for the
reason that the plants grow late, rather
than early, in the season.

2. Growing cultivated crops. Grow cul-
tivated crops, taking special care that the
cultivation is carried on well through the
season.

5. Using the mower. When fields are
newly sown to grass, the use of the mower
in the autumn will be found very effective.
The mowing should be done as close to the
surface of the ground as possible, for the
reason that the seeds of the ragweed are
often formed low down on the stem, and of
course it should be done before any of the
seeds ripen. Pastures and meadows may
be treated in the same way.

4. Spraying. Ragweed or kinghead in
fields of small grain may be killed or mate-
rially checked by spraying with any of the
materials recommended in the following
chapter, if applied when the plants are
about six inches high.

Observations, (i) When infested mead-
ows or pastures are to be broken up, the
work should be done, wherever practicable,
before any of the seeds of the weed have
had opportunity to ripen. (2) When the

148 Weeds.

plants are well reduced, hand spudding will
soon effect the extermination of this weed,
but if its seeds have been allowed to become
numerous in the soil, several years will nec-
essarily elapse before the work of eradica-
tion can be completely effected. (3) Sheep
may be made to render substantial service
in reducing the prevalence of this weed,
more especially if they be allowed to feed
upon it during the earlier stages of its
growth.

CHAPTER VII.

METHODS OF ERADICATING WEEDS OF THE
MUSTARD FAMILY.

The mustard family contains a large
number of troublesome weeds, such as wild
mustard, false flax, French weed or penny-
cress, peppergrass, shepherd's purse, and
wild radish, as-well as some of our common
garden vegetables, as the cabbage, cauli-
flower and turnip. The plants of this fam-
ily may be recognized by the shape of the
flowers, as the parts are in fours in oppo-
site pairs, forming a cross. The flowers,
which are usually white or yellow, are
borne on stems (foot-stalks) which usually
arise from a cluster of leaves at the base.
They are closely clustered at the ends of
the branches, which gradually lengthen into
long racemes, with all stages from the
unopened flower buds above to ripe seeds
at the base. The leaves and stems usually
have a decided odor when crushed. Most
of the plants of this family are annuals or

I50 Weeds.

winter annuals, though a few are biennials
and perennials.

The weeds included in this family usually
occur in grain fields, gardens, lawns and
thin meadows. As they grow rapidly and
ripen their seeds with the grain, they are
difficult to combat by ordinary means in
sections where small grains are grown con-
tinuously on the same land for a period of
years. Where winter wheat and other
winter grains are grown, many of the mus-
tard-like weeds grow as winter annuals,
developing a rosette of root-leaves in the
fall, and starting into bloom and the matur-
ing of seeds very early the following spring.
As most of the weeds of this family are
annuals, they are easily killed by cultiva-
tion when small and give little trouble where
a good rotation is practiced, with the fre-
quent introduction of crops which require
frequent cultivation. Naturally, as with
other annuals, preventing the plants from
seeding is effective, but as the seeds of
most of the plants of this family have an
oily or mucilaginous covering which effect-
ually prevents decay, they maintain their
vitality in the soil for many years, and if

Eradication of Mustard. 151

once allowed to ripen a crop of seeds will
give trouble for a long time thereafter.

The habits of growth of most of the
weeds of this family are quite similar, so
that a method which is effective in eradi-
cating one of them is usually equally so in
keeping others in check. For that reason,
the methods which are generally applicable
will be first discussed, followed by brief
descriptions of wild mustard, false flax,
French weed and tumbling mustard, the
members of this group which are most fre-
quently troublesome.

Among the methods which may be used
in eradicating weeds of the mustard family
may be mentioned sowing clean seed, har-
rowing spring grain, maintaining a regular
rotation, fall cultivation of stubble fields,
growing cultivated crops, bare fallow, hand
pulling and spraying. To obtain the best
results from these methods, it is sometimes
wise to use two or more of them together,
as, for example, following fall cultivation of
stubble with a cultivated crop in the spring.

7. Sowing clean seed is one of the most
effective ways of keeping the weeds dis-
cussed in this chapter in check. As the
seeds of most of these plants are small,

152 Weeds.

they are quite easily removed from wheat
and barley by screening. They are more
difficult to take out of seed oats, as a small
proportion will stick in the crease of the
larger oat grains. They are exceedingly
difficult to remove from the seeds of clover
and alfalfa, however, as they are about the
same size and shape as the seeds of these
plants. Care should be taken in purchas-
ing clover and grass seeds to see that they
are free from seeds of these and other
weeds.

2. Harrozviiig spving-soivn small grain
fields in the early spring, when the young
grain begins to appear, and again when it
is about three to five inches high, is quite
effective in killing the young mustard and
similar plants. In some instances three
and even four harro wings may be given,
especially in areas where the grain also
will be benefited by harrowing it thus fre-
quently. This method can only be prac-
ticed to advantage on drilled grain, as the
harrow will pull out the young grain as
well as the weeds in broadcast fields, nor
should it be used where the ground is very
wet in the spring. It is not particularly
effective on fall-sown grain, as the weeds

Eradication of Mustard. 153

which come np in the fall along with the
grain are too securely rooted in the spring
to be removed by the harrow.

J. A regular rotation of crops which
includes the introduction at frequent and
regular intervals of cultivated crops and
meadow, with the recurrence of small grain
not oftener than once in three years, is an
excellent means of preventing the growth
of mustard and similar weeds, but one
which in many sections can hardly yet be
deemed practicable. Where such a rota-
tion is practiced and proper attention given
the cultivated crop and the sowing of clean
seed, these and similar weeds are not likely
to give trouble. If they are introduced in
some way, a modification of the rotation
may be necessary in any particular field
where they become common, by dropping
small grains out of it till these weeds are
subdued.

4. Fall cultivation of stubble -fields is
effective, but of course can only be prac-
ticed where clover or grass seed has not
been sown with the grain. A shallow plow-
ing or thorough disking immediately after
harvest will cause the seeds of mustard
and many other weeds to sprout if moist-

154 Weeds.

ure conditions are right. Occasional har-
rowings will then kill the small weeds, and
encourage germination of more seed, which
in turn can be destroyed. This method is
particularly good when it can be followed
by the growing of a cultivated crop in the
spring, as outlined below. If it is neces-
sary to grow small grain on the field on
which autumn cultivation is practiced, har-
rowing in the spring after the grain is up,
as outlined in the preceding section, is
strongly to he recommended.

5. Fall cultivation, foUozved by a cidti-
vated crop in the spring. Fields which are
pretty thoroughly infested with mustard
can be cleared of this weed, except as the
seed remains in the ground, by the autumn
cultivation advised in the foregoing para-
graph, if it is followed by a cultivated crop
in the spring. As previously noted, the
weeds of the mustard family do not give
serious trouble where thorough cultivation
is practiced. Growing a quick-maturing,
vigorous soiling crop which will tend to
smother the weeds and at the same time be
removed early enough to prevent the ripen-
ing of seeds in any quantity is also a good
method of fighting annual weeds in con-

Eradication of Mustard. 155

junction with fall cultivation of stubble
fields.

6. The bare falloiv which is maintained
throughout the season, though effective, is
an expensive method of fighting weeds of
this class, both in the labor required to
maintain it, and the soil fertility which is
lost through leaching, especially where the
rainfall is considerable. A modification
of the bare fallow which is maintained
throughout the year can be made by com-
bining the fall cultivation advised in sec-
tion 3 with disking and harrowing in
the spring for a few weeks, followed by
late planting of a cultivated crop or a rank-
growing soiling or green manure crop.
This is a good method of fighting weeds
of all kinds, and is less expensive than fal-
lowing through the entire season, while it
does not require the land to lie idle
throughout the year and thus lose a crop.

/. Hand pulling is practicable only when
mustard and similar weeds occur in small
numbers when first introduced, or when
they have been greatly reduced by other
methods. Hand pulling is more efifective
than spudding, as the weeds can then be
carried from the field and burned or other-

156 Weeds.

wise destroyed. This is particularly neces-
sary with wild mustard and similar weeds,
which have the power of maturing their
seeds even after the plants are removed
from the ground.

8. Spraying. A method which has been
quite commonly practiced in some sections
in recent years, and is now considered by
many to be one of the best means of com-
bating mustard and other broad-leaved
weeds in grain fields, meadows and pas-
tures, is spraying with a solution of salt,
iron sulfate, or some other chemical.
Spraying experiments to kill weeds were
first begun in this country about 1896, but
it is only in recent years that the practice
has become at all general. This method,
even as it is at present developed, can not
take the place of the more generally rec-
ognized methods of fighting weeds, such as
the sowing of clean seed, thorough culti-
vation, and crop rotation. It is effective,
however, in checking the growth of weeds
in those sections where no definite crop
rotation which includes the growing of cul-
tivated crops is practiced, but where crop
after crop of small grain is grown on the
land.

Eradication by Spraying. 157

The ivecds zvhich can he killed or seri-
ously checked by spraying include most of
the broad-leaved plants, such as those
included in the mustard family, kinghead,
ragweed, dandelion, and even the Canada
and bull thistles. Perennials and biennials
like these latter, however, must be sprayed
several times throughout the season to
prevent the growth of new shoots from the
roots. Other methods will usually be
found cheaper and better in fighting these
weeds, with the possible exception of dan-
delions in lawns. The spray, if properly
applied, will not injure the small grains,
or grasses which may have been sown with
the grain, as timotliy or brome grass. Flax
should not be sprayed after it is three or
four inches high. Spraying is injurious to
clover and alfalfa, and should not be used
on any grain field in which seeds of these
crops have been sown, or in meadows con-
taining them. It is not effective in fight-
ing wild oats, quack grass, foxtail, or
other weedy grasses.

The best time to spray is when the first
of the mustard, Frenchweed, or false flax
plants are in blossom, but before they have
formed pods, as the plants are often jiot

158 IVceds.

entirely killed by the spray and the roots
and stems may contain sufficient vitality
to mature the seeds, even after the leaves
are killed. The proper time to apply the
spray of course varies with the locality, but
it is usually in May or early June. The
most effective work can be done if the
spray is applied in damp, cloudy weather,
or toward evening, when the evaporation
will not be rapid. Naturally, the work
should not be done when a rain is immi-
nent, as the rain will wash the chemical
off the leaves and destroy its effectiveness.
Weeds are more easily killed when the
growth is rapid than when it is slow.
Usually one spraying is sufficient, but if
the weeds are numerous, an additional
application a week or ten days later may
be necessary.

The materials used in spraying are usu-
ally solutions of iron sulfate, copper sul-
fate, or common salt. Iron sulfate (cop-
peras) is generally considered to be the
most effective chemical for use in destroy-
ing mustard and similar weeds. About 50
to 55 gallons of any of these solutions are
required to cover the weeds on an acre of
land properly. The proper strength of the

Eradication by Spraying. 159

solution is about 75 to 100 pounds of iron
sulfate to 50 gallons of water; 75 pounds
are sufficient if the weeds are young and
growing rapidly. From 12 to 15 pounds
of copper sulfate, or about one-third of a
barrel of common salt, in 50 gallons of
water, will make the solution of proper
strength for good work when these mate-
rials are used.

The machinery for spraying varies with
the acreage on which it is to be used. If
only a small area is to be sprayed, as in
lawns or the eradication of small patches
of some particular weed, any of the ordi-
nary knapsack or bucket spray pumps, if
fitted with a nozzle which will give a fine,
misty spray, will be found satisfactory. If
a large acreage is to be sprayed, a power
sprayer of the type shown in the frontis-
piece is necessary. This machine, or a simi-
lar one, can be purchased from dealers in
spraying apparatus for from $75 to $150,
the cost varying with the size and effective-
ness of the machine. It is essential in any
case to use a machine with sufiicient power
to give a strong, misty spray; a sprinkler
will not do. It is desirable in purchasing
a sprayer to select one which can be used

i6o Weeds.

for other purposes if possible, such as the
spraying of potatoes or orchard and truck
crops.

The cost of spraying varies according to
the material used, the machinery with which
it is applied, and th|ej:ime necessary to apply
it. The material, whether it be iron sul-
phate, copper sulphate, or common salt,
should not cost more than $1.25 an acre,
and may run as low as 75 cents, according
to the cost in the local market, the material,
and the quantity used. Salt is probably the
cheapest of the three, and should not cost
more than 75 cents. A field sprayer like
that illustrated should spray from 25 to 40
acres in a day. In addition to the driver
and horse or team necessary for this outfit,
another man and team to haul water will
be needed for rapid work unless the spray-
ing is done close to the water supply.

The weeds of tliis family for which spe-
cial descriptions are given are the ones
which are most commonly found trouble-
some. They are the zvild mustard, false
■Rax, French zvecd or pemiycress/and tum-
bling mustard. The methods of eradication
outlined in the foregoing pages will be
found effective in combating these and sim-

Description of Wild Mustard. idi

ilar weeds of the mustard family, such as
peppergrass, shepherd's purse, and the wild
radish.

(l) WILD MUSTARD.

Wild mustard (Brassica arvensis) is one
of the most difficult weeds to dislodge found
on this continent, when once it gets a strong
foothold in the soil. Owing to the extraor-
dinary vitality of its seeds, a very long time
is required to completely effect its removal
from any soil infested by it, for the reason
that for years and years the seeds lying in
the soil continue to germinate with each
successive cultivation that may happen to
bring them near the surface.

Wild mustard is an annual plant which,
in the earlier stages of its growth, bears
some resemblance to the radish and to the
yellow-fleshed varieties of the turnip. It
has a spreading, fibrous root, as shown in
the sketch. Its stem is more or less
branched, according as it is crowded or not
when growing, and it bears a bright yellow
blossom, which can be seen at a consider-
able distance. Its seeds resemble those of
the turnip so closely that they cannot easily
be distinguished from them, and thev also

1 62

Weeds.

closely resemble the seeds of some varieties
of rape.

Wild mustard comes up in spring as soon
as the weather gets really warm, but seeds
that come sufficiently near the surface will
germinate as long as the season of growth

WILD MUSTARD.

lasts. It grows very rapidly, and matures
an immense number of seeds. It sometimes
grows to the height of more than two feet,
but when it ripens amid grain crops is about
eighteen inches in height. Its seed pods

Description of Wild Mustard. 163

are usually about an inch in length. The
first flowers, or those borne by the earlier
developed plants, appear in May or early in
June, but the late plants will produce seeds
on into the month of September, or even
later. Fortunately, it is not a plant that
can withstand severe frost, hence it is not
found to any considerable extent in mead-
ows or pastures, or in fields of winter
wheat or rye. It is not positively known
how long its seeds will retain the power of
germination when lying in the soil, but it
lias been claimed that they may lie buried
for at least fifty years and yet immediately
spring into vigorous life when brought to
the • surface of the soil under favorable
conditions.

Wild mustard will grow in all kinds of
soils, but not equally well. It is most at
home in friable limestone soils that possess
good drainage, but it will also grow in great
luxuriance on loamy prairie soils. On stiff
clays it does not grow so readily; but it
will make fair headway even in these when
given tlie opportunity.

Wild mustard grows in all kinds of grain
crops that are sown in the spring, and usu-
ally it matures its seeds before the grain in

1 64 Weeds.

which it grows is ripe. It is manifest that
where spring grains are chiefly grown the
contest with this weed will be a difficult
one. It has been argued by some persons
that wild mustard does not interfere to any
serious extent with the yields of the crops
amid which it grows, but it must be evident
to any one who understands the way in
which plants feed that a soil cannot produce
a crop of mustaid and one of grain at the
same time, with the result that the grain
will yield as well as if the mustard had not
been there.

Wild mustard is distributed by means of
various agencies. Some seeds are carried
from place to place by birds, but usually
this weed finds its way to new centers by
the seed being carried in grain. The thrash-
ing machine is also a potent means of car-
rying it from farm to farm. It is further
distributed over farms on which it grows
by means of the droppings of cattle, and by
the manure. It is also very frequently dis-
tributed by spring floods; when this is the
case the farmer has great difficulty in deal-
ing with it.

Description of False Flax. 165

(2) FALSE FLAX.

False flax (Camelina saliva), sometimes
known as wild flax, has probably gained its
name from the prevalent, but mistaken,
notion that it has originated in the degen-
eracy of cultivated flax, whereas cultivated
flax is a plant of another order. False flax
usually grows to the height of about eigh-
teen inches, but sometimes it grows consid-
erably higher. Where the seeds have been
shed numerously the previous year around
some parent stem, it frequently comes up
so thickly that some of the plants cannot
grow more than a few inches above the
ground. In the earlier stages of its growth
false flax is somewhat leafy, but after its
blossoming stage is passed the upper por-
tions of the plant consist mainly of stems
and seed pods, as shown in the sketch. The
blossoms are small, and of a pale yellow
color.

Ordinarily, false flax is classed as an
annual, although it usually commences to
grow in the later portions of the year previ-
ous to that in which the seeds are matured.
False flax is very hardy, and can withstand
considerable frost. Its seeds, which are

i66

Weeds.

1<ALSE FLAX.

Description of False Flax. 167

very numerous, are easily shed, hence when
the ripe plants are disturbed by the jar of
the machines used in cutting the crops amid
which they grow, many of their seeds are
shed upon the ground. The seeds of false
flax have some resemblance to the seeds of
common flax, but they are much smaller.

False flax is a weed that will grow in any
kind of soil adapted to winter wheat or
meadow, hence it will flourish on a wide
range of soils. It seems equally at home in
the stiffest clays and in the mild, humous
loams of the prairie. False flax peculiarly
infests winter wheat, rye, meadows and
pastures. It does not usually grow to any
considerable extent in spring crops, but
sometimes stray plants will be found in
these crops. These stray plants, however,
usually have sprung up in the preceding
fall, and have survived the cultivation
involved in preparing the ground for being
sown in the spring.

This plant is distributed by means of the
seeds of the crops amid which it grows,
by farmyard manure, and by droppings of
cattle, but it is more widely distributed by
being carried in the seed of timothy than
in any other way. In this fact we find a

i68 Weeds.

chief explanation of the sudden app'^irance
of false flax in new centres where formerly
it was not known.

Observations. In the conflict with false
flax 'it will be well to bear in mind the fol-
lowing: (i) That grass seeds should inva-
riably be sown along with spring grain, as
wheat or barley; (2) that autumn cultiva-
tion is always the most important thing to
be attended to, owing to the natural ten-
dency of the weed to germinate from seed
in the fall of the year; (3) that when false
flax is found in meadows merely in detached
patches, the infested parts may be cut and
used for soiling purposes, while the remain-
der of the crop may be harvested in the
usual way; (4) that where alfalfa can be
substituted for the ordinary meadow crops
it is well to make the change, inasmuch as
in that case the first cutting of the alfalfa
would take place before the false flax would
be ripe.

(3) FRENCH WEED.

Frenchweed (Thlaspi arvense), also
known as pennycress and stinkweed, is an
annual, but when it has not yet produced
seeds in the autumn, it will live through the

Description of Frcuchzvccd. 169

winter and mature them the following
spring and summer. The name stinkweed
is due to the offensive odor which it pos-
sesses, and which it imparts to the beef and
milk of animals which feed upon it. It is
of the same family as mustard, and, like all
weeds of that family, it is difficult to eradi-
cate. In certain sections of the western
prairies it is giving very much trouble, more
especially in Minnesota, the Dakotas and
Manitoba.

French weed is usually about a foot high,
but under favorable circumstances it will
reach the height of two feet, and the plants
are capable of bearing seeds though not
more than 2 inches high. The branches are
numerous. The leaves are oblong in shape
and of a deep green shade. The flowers
are very small and white in color. The seed
pods are elliptical and flat, and from one-
fourth of an inch to half an inch in diame-
ter. They are very numerous and each pod
contains several small seeds.

Frenchweed will ripen its seeds at any
season of the year from June until the
arrival of the autumn frosts. The season
of maturity is dependent chiefly on the time
of the year at which the plants commence

170

Weeds.

to grow. Those which get a start in the
autumn blossom in May, and by the arrival

FRENCHWEED.

of the harvest season the seeds will nearly
all be shed on the ground. It is claimed

Description of Tumbling Mustard. 171

that plants from seeds which have fallen
early in the season will in turn mature
before the coming of winter.

Frenchweed will grow least vigorously
on stiff clays, and most luxuriantly on the
vegetable soils of the prairies. It harms
grain crops much more than pasture or
meadow or cultivated crops, and it does
m.ore injury to grain crops which ripen
early than to those which ripen late.

Frenchweed is distributed through the
medium of the seeds. They are carried
along with the seeds of cereals amid which
they have grown. They may also be dis-
tributed in manure and in the droppings of
cattle, and to some extent they are con-
veyed by water and carried by wind. The
seeds are possessed of great vitality, but
they will not germinate unless they are near
the surface of the soil.

(4) TUxMBLING MUSTARD.

Tumbling mustard (Sisynibrimn altissi-
mum) is another bad weed of the mustard
family. In some localities it is known
simply as "Tumble weed," but in central
Europe it is called Hungarian mustard. It
is thought that it was brought to this con-

172 Weeds.

tinent by certain Aiistrians employed in the
construction of the Canadian Pacific rail-
way. About the year 1889, it began to
arrest the attention of the farmers around
Indian Head, Saskatchewan. Since that
date it has spread rapidly over a large sec-
tion of the Canadian Northwest, and to
some extent into the adjoining portions of
the United States.

Tumbling mustard is an annual or winter
annual. When it grows amid small grain
crops, its branches are not numerous, but
they are long and slender. When it has
room to grow the branches are quite nu-
merous and they bear an enormous nunaber
of seed pods. The seeds are small, and of
a dark reddish brown color. The plants
commonly grow about two feet high but
the height varies with the soil and season.
The flowers are a pale yellow and the plant
bears a close resemblance to common wild
mustard.

Tumbling mustard will grow at all
season between the time of the spring and
autumn frosts. The seeds usually mature
at the same time as those of the small
grains or even a little earlier, but under

Description of Tumbling Mustard. 173

certain conditions they will continue to
ripen until the arrival of the autumn frosts.

TUMBLING MUSTARD

If cut off before the blossoming stage,
more branches will be produced.

174 Weeds.

While tumbling mustard infests all kinds
of crops, it is peculiarly troublesome in
cereals. Where these get an early and
vigorous start in the spring, they will keep
the' weeds in check for that reason, but
when from any cause the crops are weakly,
the weeds will soon overshadow them. It
does not give serious trouble in pastures or
meadows. This plant will grow in various
classes of soils, but it thrives most vigor-
ously on those essentially humous in their
composition.

Tumbling mustard is propagated chiefly
by such agencies as wind, water, birds and
the seeds of cereals and millet, but of these
the first mentioned is by far the most potent
and dangerous. As the wind is such an
efifective agency in its distribution, anything
that will stop the spread of this weed by
this means, as a wire fence, will be useful.
If the mustard and other plants which col-
lect along the fence are then gathered up
and destroyed, they will be prevented from
again blowing out into the fields when the
direction of the wind changes.

CHAPTER VIII.

ERADICATION OF THE WEEDY GRASSES.

The grass family includes a large number
of our most useful plants, such as corn,
wheat, oats, barley, and all the forage
grasses, and is the most valuable of all the
great botanical divisions. On the other
hand, it includes some of our most trouble-
some weeds, which, because of the persist-
ence of their creeping root-stocks, as in
quack grass, or the similarity of their
growth and seed habits to the cereals in
which they grow, as with wild oats, or for
some other reason, are very troublesome to
the farmer and very difficult to eradicate.

The three most troublesome grasses to
the farmers of Canada and the northern
United States are quack grass, wild oats,
and foxtail. Wild barley or squirrel-tail
grass is also a very serious weed pest in
prairie pastures and meadows, but one
which rather quickly succumbs to cultiva-
tion. On land that cannot be cultivated,

176 IVccds.

cutting before the seed ripens will be effect-
ive in preventing its spread. Nearly all
the other weedy grasses quite closely resem-
ble some one of the three mentioned in the
beginning of this paragraph, and may be
eradicated by using the methods recom-
mended for the one they most nearly
approach in their habits of growth.

(l) QUACK GRASS.

Quack grass (Agropyron repens) is
known by a great variety of names, as quack
grass, scutch grass, quick grass, quitch
grass, and dog grass; but it is generally
called either quack or couch grass. Quack
grass is a creepmg perennial, the root-stocks
of which are so numerous that they soon fill
the soil. They resemble considerably the
roots of Canadian blue grass {Poa com-
pressa), but they are much larger and
stronger and more vigorous in every way,
and they are very much more tenacious of
life. The root-stocks of quack grass are so
strong and unyielding that they have been
known to push their way through tlie tuber
of the potato. The stems grow to the height
of one to three feet, according to soil and
season, and each of them is terminated bv

Description of Quack Gross. 177

a slender spike from two to several inches
in length. The leaves bear much resem-

QUACK GRASS

blance to those of timothy, but are some-
what larger, and are characterized by a
deeper shade of green.

178 Weeds.

Quack grass makes a good growth early
in the season. Its seeds usually mature in
August, about the same time as those of
timothy. It will grow in almost any kind
of soil, but is most partial to loams and
soils of a decidedly open texture. It is
least at home in stifif clays, and in these it
is much more easily destroyed than else-
where.

Quack grass grows in all kinds of crops
from early spring until late autumn, and
during this entire period the work of prop-
agation goes constantly on by means of its
creeping root-stocks. When once it gets a
footing, its power of crowding out other
crops is very great. Like the Canada this-
tle and the perennial sow thistle, quack
grass also is easily distributed by means of
the seeds of the useful grains and grasses,
for its seeds ripen at the same time as those
of the cereals, and those of some of the
clovers, as for example alsike and mam-
moth, and those of timothy. It is also dis-
tributed through the agency of farmyard
manure, both home-made and purchased.

Quack grass has some redeeming quali-
ties. It furnishes a considerable amount
of food of a nutritious character, both as

Eradication of Quack Grass. 179

pasture and as hay, and when cut as hay it
affords a considerable aftermath. It is so
hardy that the cold of winter and the heat
of summer cannot destroy it. Hence it
has been deliberately bought and sowed
to provide permanent pasture, but after a
few years its roots become so matted that
the plants fail to produce a vigorous
growth. When this is so, the pasture may
easily be renovated by simply plowing it,
and leveling it down again with the har-
row. Quack grass, however, is generally
looked upon as a great pest, owing to the
difficulty of getting rid of it when its
absence is desired, and this view is doubt-
less the correct one to take of it.

Other weedy grasses which resemble
quack grass more or less closely and are
sometimes mistaken for it include vanilla
grass or holy grass, western wheat grass,
and dropseed grass. All of these grasses
may be eradicated by the methods recom-
mended below for the eradication of quack
grass.

Modes of Eradication.

When the attempt is made to destroy
quack grass, effective work should be made
of it, and this in a single season. The fol-

i8o Weeds.

lowing modes of dealing with it will be
found successful, except in season of unu-
sually heavy rainfall.

/. After-harvest and autumn cultivation,
folloivcd by spring cultivation and a cul-
tivated crop. After harvest, plow the
infested fields lightly, and then harrow with
the ordinary harrow — if necessary, using
also the spring-tooth cultivator to shake
the roots of the grass free from the soil.
Then draw the roots into light windrows
with the horse rake, and, when they are
dry enough, burn them. If the weather
should not be dry enough for burning
them, the root-stocks may be carted into
a compost heap. Repeat the operation a
second time and even a third time the same
autumn if the weather will admit of it,
plowing the ground more deeply eacli time
in order to bring up fresh root-stocks. In
no case, however, should the disturbing
work go on in wet weather. When the
late autumn arrives, rib the land by turn-
ing two furrows together from opposite
directions, or plow the land so that the
largest possible amount of surface shall be
exposed to the action of the frost in win-
ter. The frost has the effect (i) of kill-

Eradication of Quack Grass. i8i

ing the roots that are exposed by tlie plow-
ing, and (2) of freeing them from the soil.
In the spring use the harrow and culti-
vator occasionally in time of dry weather,
and the horse rake also if necessary, until
it is time to plant corn, roots, or some other
cultivated crop. Then cultivate this crop
properly, giving it such hand work as may
be deemed necessary along the line of the
rows.

2. Plozif tinder deeply after the grass has
been cut for hay. Allow the grass to grow
until near the blossoming stage. Then
mow it for hay. Then plow the land
deeply, not less than 8 or 9 inches, and if
it can be plowed to a greater depth the
results will be even more satisfactory. The
plowing should be done with much care so
that all the grass is deeply buried. The
disk should then be run over the land every
seven to fourteen days subsequently dur-
ing the growing season. In a dry season
this method will prove very effective.

J. Grozv tzvo crops of corn in succession.
Grow two crops of corn in succession,
planting the corn so that it can be culti-
vated both ways. The cultivation should
be so thorough that the quack grass will be

i82 Weeds.

all destroyed between the rows of corn.
The following season run the disk over the
land quite frequently until the middle of
June. Then sow millet at the rate of one
bushel of seed per acre. The growth of
millet thus secured should smother any
plants of the quack grass that may have
survived.

Observations. If the first method out-
lined is thoroughly followed out, then by
autumn the quack grass will be completely
destroyed. An infested field was very
thoroughly cleaned by this method in one
season at the Ontario Experiment Station
farm at Guelph in 1891, the cultivated crop
used being corn. It should be remarked
that more constant and careful cultivation
was given to this crop than a corn crop
usually receives, and this is true in respect
to both the horse labor and the hand labor.
In a wet season, however, it would scarcely
be possible to eradicate quack grass with-
out an expenditure of labor too costly for
such a result. Indeed, quack grass should
never be disturbed when the ground is wet,
for at such a time the growth of the grass
would in some respects be encouraged by
stirring the soil.

Description of the Wild Oat. 183

In fence borders it will usually be found
"very difficult to dislodge quack-grass with-
out first removing the fence for a time,
and then cleaning the ground as described
above. However, another mode would be
to smother the weed by piling litter or
manure upon it, but this mode would only
be applicable in the case of small patches.
It must not be forgotten that the weed
should be destroyed in such places, other-
wise it will be continually pushing itself
out into the field and giving trouble.

(2) THE WILD OAT.

The wild oat (Avena fatua) is an annual
grass that is one of our most pernicious and
troublesome weeds. In fact, the attention
has never been given to this pest that its
banefulness merits, but we would advise all
farmers to spare no pains to exterminate it
utterly from their land. The wild oat will
grow readily at different seasons of the
year, but it makes its most vigorous growth
in the warm, moist weather of spring,
though not in early spring. It bears con-
siderable resemblance to the common oat,
but there are some distinctive points of dif-
ference. In the wild oat the chaff scales

i84

Weeds.

which adhere to the grain are thick and
hairy, while ^in the cultivated varieties these
scales are not so coarse and are hairless.
The wild oat has a long, stiff awn, which

WILD OATS.

is usually twisted near its base ; in the cul-
tivated varieties, the awn is either entirely
wanting or, if present, is not so stiff, and
is seldom bent. When the awn of the wild

Description of the Wild Oat. 185

oat is dry, it is generally twisted closely
upon itself, but when it is moistened by
dew or rain, it slowly uncoils. This uncoil-
ing of the twisted awn causes the seed to
sprawl and spring about upon the ground,
and is a means of forcing the seed into the
ground in damp weather. The grain of the
wild oat is light, being composed chiefly of
hull, and it is therefore of but little value
as a feed.

The resemblance of the wild oat to other
cereals before heading is so close that when
it grows along with them it is impossible
to detect its presence without very careful
scrutiny. It matures its seeds earlier than
nearly all the varieties of the useful cereals,
but of course not so much so in the case of
fall wheat as of the. spring cereals; hence
it is especially troublesome in the localities
where cereal crops are much grown. It is
very troublesome, too, from the fact that it
begins to shed its seeds upon the ground
as soon as ripe, and the operation of har-
vesting the crops amid which it grows
greatly helps it to shed its seeds. It is a
very hardy plant, and will endure adverse
conditions of soil and weather in a remark-
able degree, but its seeds will not germinate

1 86 Weeds.

very early in the spring, nor in the autumn,
unless the weather be warm and moist. It
luxuriates in soils that are well adapted to
the growth of cereals, but it will also grow
in various other soils. The wild oat does
not give serious trouble in meadows or pas-
tures. Its seeds are possessed of great
vitality, and will spring into life when
brought under suitable conditions, although
they may have been buried in the ground
or in unrotted manure for years and years.
The wild oat is distributed most freely
by means of the seeds of the small grains,
for the reason that, if left to grow among
these crops, it is sure to ripen before them,
and therefore to have a portion of its seed
mixed with the thrashed grain. It is also
very largely distributed by manure, since
its seed is so light tliat there is no means of
preventing it from being very freely mixed
with the straw of the crops amid which it
has grown. When once among the straw of
the manure heap, its seeds will maintain
their vitality for years, unless the utmost
pains be taken to thoroughly rot the manure,
which should always be done before the
manure is placed on the land if wild oat
seeds are suspected of being present in it.

Eradication of the Wild Oat. 187

The watercourses also carry down the seeds
of wild oats from higher levels, and some
seeds are brought into new localities by
thrashing machines. On the farm it is also
further distributed by being carried in the
droppings of animals.

DarneL and cheat are annual weedy
grasses which give much trouble in some
sections. They can be eradicated by the
means here recommended for the wild oat.

Modes of Eradication.

The following are the modes of eradica-
tion that have been found most successful
in dealing with wild oats:

/. After-harvest and autumn cultivation,
follozved by a cultivated crop. In fields
which have borne grain crops, plow the
land just as soon as this can be done, start-
ing the process even before the shocks of
grain have been removed from the fields —
the reason for this early plowing being that
many of the wild oat seeds which have been
recently shed upon the ground may at this
time be induced to germinate, whereas they
coujd not easily be induced to germinate
later on. Plow a second tirne, and then
cultivate or harrow the land occasionally,

1 88 Weeds.

until the time of late plowing in the fall.
Other wild oat seeds lying in the upper por-
tions of the soil may thus be encouraged to
germinate. It will be an additional encour-
agement if the land be rolled once or twice
during the process, especially if the season
be dry, for the rolling tends to retain the
moisture of tlie soil, and when the soil is
not moist the oats do not germinate readily.
In any case, it must be remembered that
they do not germinate so readily in the
autumn as in the warm and moist days of
spring. When the late autumn has come,
plow deeply, so that the lower section of
the cultivated portion of the soil will be
brought to the surface. Then in the spring-
stir the surface soil occasionally until it is
time to plant corn or some other cultivated
crop.

2. Grozving tzvo cultivated crops. Grow
two cultivated crops in succession on the
land, giving careful attention to the previ-
ous autumn cultivation and to the subse-
quent preparation of the soil for seed, and
to the cultivation of the crops while they
are growing.

J. Encourage germination, kill the young
plants, and sozv a late crop. Allow the wild

Eradication of the Wild Oat. 189

oats to start in the early spring. Then plow
the land in order to bury the myriads of
oats that have, germinated. The ground
should be at once harrowed to encourage
the germination of the oats in the upper
section of the soil. When another crop
has started the disk should again be run
over the land. It should then be sown to
millet or barley during the first half of
June. These crops should be cut before any
stray wild oats that may have survived
have produced seed. The ground should
then be at once plowed again to bring up
the lower section of the furrow slice, which
will contain seeds. The next year the same
process should be followed. But few wild
oats will then remain in the soil. If a cul-
tivated crop, as corn, follows, the wild oats
should be all destroyed.

4. Seed the land to alfalfa. One of the
most effective ways to eradicate wild oats
is to seed the land to alfalfa. The fre-
quency of the cutting of the alfalfa crop
will prevent any of tlie oats from maturing
seed. If the alfalfa is harvested for sev-
eral successive years, the seeds of the wild
oats remaining in the soil will lose their
germinating power. The two methods last

190 Weeds.

submitted are specially applicable to north-
western conditions.

Observations. ( i ) In all districts infested
with wild oats, darnel, or cheat, the great-
est care should be taken to get pure seed
for sowing, especially of spring oats, wheat,
and barley, for these weedy grasses will in
many cases ripen earlier than any of these.
(2) If these weeds exist on any farm, their
seeds, owing to their lightness, are sure to
get, mixed with the straw of the thrashed
grain, and thus get into the manure. Owing
to the remarkable vitality of the seed of
wild oats, whenever there is a suspicion that
the manure contains wild oat seed it is par-
ticularly essential that it should be thor-
oughly rotted before being used. (3)
Owing to its reluctance to germinate in the
fall, autumn cultivation does not do as
much for the eradication of this weed as
for many others. The greatest pains, there-
fore, must be taken to induce its seeds to
germinate by the earliest possible cultiva-
tion after harvest. As its seeds will not ger-
minate in autumn unless the weather is
warm and moist, the wild oat is very hard
to deal with in the American and Canadian
Northwest, where' the autumn days are

Description of Foxtail. 191

never warm enough to secure the germina-
tion of the seeds. The soil there is so suit-
able to the weed that it grows w^ith great
vigor, even to a height of six feet.

(3) FOXTAIL.

Foxtail {Setaria glaiica) is better known
in the Northwestern states as summer grass
or pigeon grass. It grows to a greater or
less extent in nearly every section of the
continent where the land has been tilled,
even if only for a few years. It gives great
trouble in prairie countries where one kind
of cereal is frequently grown for many
years in succession on the same lands. It
is also troublesome in all crops in the corn
belt, particularly in Iowa and the adjoining
states. Green foxtail {Setaria viridis) is
a closely related species which is more
common in the East* Practically the sam.e
description applies to it, and the same
methods of treatment are applicable. Fox-
tail usually grows to the height of about
one foot when matured, although the
height varies much with the richness of .the
soil. It is capable of maturing seeds even
when but a few inches high. The leaves
bear a very close resemblance to those of

192 Weeds.

millet, but they are much smaller. The
head is covered with fine, soft hairs, and it
produces many seeds.

Foxtail commences to grow as soon as
the soil gets warm, and the seeds, which
have great vitality, will germinate under
favorable conditions until the arrival of
cold weather in autumn. After the cul-
tivation has ceased in corn, potatoes, and
similar crops, the seeds which lie in the
soil will grow when it is sufficiently moist.
The plants produced under these condi-
tions grow very rapidly and mature seeds
in an incredibly short space of time.

Foxtail will grow on almost every class
of soils, but on rich prairie soils it luxu-
riates. It infests almost every form of
crop grown, but does not give much trouble
in rye, winter wheat, or on cultivated
meadow, owing to the early period at
which these crops mature. It is spe-
cially troublesome in cereals sown in the
spring, as in these the plants frequently
grow in such numbers as to greatly hinder
the growth of the crops.

Foxtail is distributed through the agency
of birds, wind and water, and to a still
greater extent probably through that of seed

Description of Foxtail 193

FOXTAIL

194 Weeds.

grain, manure and droppings of animals.

Other annual weedy grasses which can
be eradicated by the methods given below
include barnyard grass, fingergrass, and
crabgrass.

Modes of Eradication.

The following are the modes of eradi-
cation that have been found most success-
ful in dealing with foxtail :

1. Modifying tJie rotation. Increase the
acreage of rye, winter wheat, cultivated
grasses and permanent pastures.

2. Antunin cultivation. Practice autumn
cultivation to the greatest possible extent.
If the fields which have grown cereals are
at once ploughed, as soon as the grain is
removed, the maturing of many of the
seeds will be prevented, but not of all of
them.

3. Grozci]ig cultivated crops. Grow cul-
tivated crops so far as practicable, more
especially crops of corn. In these the cul-
tivation should be continued as late in the
season as possible.

4. Harrozving the grain. Harrow the
grain in the spring with a light harrow,
with manv teeth in it, just after the fox-

Eradication of Foxtail. 195

tail plants have appeared in large numbers
above the surface of the ground. This
should never be attempted when the
ground or the grain is wet. Wlicn the
work of harrowing is judiciously done it
will also prove helpful to the crops which
are thus dealt with.

5, Pasturing luith sheep. Utilize sheep
in pasturing off the stray plants in pas-
tures and in the aftermath of meadows,
and in eating off the myriads of plants
which frequently grow among the stubbles
of cereal crops, in corn crops and in waste-
places generally. A flock of sheep will
soon clean out all the plants growing in a
crop of corn, and without injury to the
corn, when the sheep are turned in to feed
amid the corn at the proper season.

Observations. ( i ) In fighting this weed
the aim should be to give prominence to
those methods which will most eft'ectively
secure the quick germination of the weed
seeds in the soil. Until these germinate
they cannot be removed. (2) To get the
complete mastery of the weed it will prob-
ably be found necessary to cease to grow
cereals which are sown in the spring from
year to year upon th.e same lands.

CHAPTER IX.

SPECIFIC MODES OF ERADICATING MISCEL-
LANEOUS TROUBLESOME WEEDS.

The most important of the weeds which
give trouble to the farmer in the northern
United States which have not been treated
in the three preceding chapters are the Rus-
sian thistle, the plantains, biiidzveed, wild
buckzvheat, corn cockle, wheat-thief, blue-
weed and wild carrot. Tlie last three of
these are most serious in eastern Canada
and the eastern United States. Wheat-
tliief and the blueweed belong to the same
botanical family, as do the Russian thistle
and the wild buckwheat. With these excep-
tions, the weeds mentioned in this chapter
are not closely related.

(l) THE RUSSIAN THISTLE.

The Russian tliistle (Salsoli kali var.
tragus) is one of tiie most aggressive weed
pests that has ever come to the prairies of
the west. It is frequently called the Rus-

Description of the Russian Thistle. 197

sian cactus, but strictly speaking it is neither
a thistle nor a cactus.

This plant, it is claimed, first obtained a
foothold in the United State-s in Bonhomme
county, South Dakota, about the year 1873.
It is supposed to have been brought in flax-
seed from the plains of Russia, where it
has been growing increasingly formidable
for at least two centuries. So rapid was
the spread of the Russian thistle in the
United States that it was soon considered
a serious menace to successful agriculture
in several of the prairie states bordering on
the Mississippi and Missouri rivers. It has
also made its appearance in states farther
to the east, but nowhere is it now so seri-
ously regarded as it was a few years ago,
though it is still a very troublesome weed
in the prairie sections.

The Russian thistle is an annual. The
early leaves of the young plants are smooth
and slender, about two inches long, and
each is tipped with a spine. Above the
early leaves branches grow out which pro-
duce many spines, and the number and
length of the branches vary much with the
attendant conditions of growth. The spines
grow in clusters of three, and as the plants

198

Weeds.

near maturity they become so rigid that the
legs of horses require protection when they
have to travel among the mature weeds.
When near maturity the plant appears to
be almost leafless. Specimens of the plant
have been found with a diameter not less
than five feet.

'^^i

THE RUSSIAN THISTLE

The Russian thistle does not begin to
grow very early in the season, hence if
grain crops are given an early start in the
spring the thistle which infests them will

Description of the Russian Thistle. 199

be so far kept in check that it may not seri-
ously injure the crops. It frequently con-
tinues to grow and mature seeds until the
frosts become severe enough to destroy its
vitality. The earlier plants mature much
of the seed in the latter part of August
and in September, hence all plants cut off
or pulled up after that time should be
burned. It is claimed that an average sized
plant is capable of maturing from 20,000
to 30,000 seeds.

This weed is specially troublesome in
grain crops ; the later the crops and the
more weakly they are the greater will be
the injury done. It grows with sufficient
vigor under some conditions to prevent the
harvesting of the grain by the ordinary
binder, and in all cases on account of its
bulk it makes harvesting difficult and
expensive. It infests all kinds of crops,
but is easily destroyed in such as are culti-
vated. This weed grows to some extent on
the native prairie, but not so much where
grasses are well established in the soil, as
where prairie fires, gophers or prairie dogs
have prepared a seed bed for it.

The Russian thistle is propagated solely
by means of its seed and its marvelous

200 Weeds.

power of propagation is attributable to the
ease with which the winds send it tumbhng
over the prairie for miles in succession, the
number of seeds which it produces, and the
readiness with which the seeds germinate
under favorable conditions. Railways are
largely responsible for the conveyance of
the seed to new centers. It has also been
carried in flaxseed and in the seed of cereals.

Modes of Eradication.

The Russian thistle is not difficult of
eradication. Its great weakness lies in the
inability of the seeds to maintain vitality
under normal conditions for a longer
period than two years. Under a good sys-
tem of farming it may be eradicated with-
out great difficulty. Any system of farm-
ing that will prevent the plants from matur-
ing their seeds for two successive years
will accomplish this end.

The following are the modes of eradica-
tion which have been found most success-
ful in dealing with the Russian thistle :

7. Modifying the rotation. Cereal crops
and other crops which favor the maturing
of the seeds may be omitted for two suc-
cessive years, and other crops grown in

Eradication of the Ritssiaji Thistle. 201

their stead, such as cultivated crops or tlie
tame grasses.

2. Spudding. When the weed plants
are not numerous they may be destroyed
by cutting them off with the spud below
the crown any time before the seeds are
matured, but the work will- be much more
easily done at an early rather than at a
late stage of growth. Along fence bor-
ders and in waste-places they may also be
thus destroyed.

J. G voicing tzi'o cultivated crops. If
two cultivated crops are grown in succes-
sion on the same land, and if at the same
time proper cultivation is given to them,
the weeds will be all destroyed.

4. Growing forage crops and pasturing
them zuith sheep. The Russian thistle may
be easily destroyed by growing certain for-
age crops and pasturing them wnth sheep
for two years in succession. Winter rye
should be given a prominent place among
these crops where it can be successfully
grown. The rye may be followed about
the end of May with corn, sorghum, millet
or rape. Sheep seem to relish the thistles
when young and tender.

202 V/eeds,

5. Harrow small grain in the early
spring. Harrow the grain crop with a
light steel harrow as soon as the blades
begin to show. The teeth should be given
a backward slant sufficient to produce the
result sought. When the grain is four or
five inches high, it should be harrowed a
second time, and even a third and fourtli
time under some conditions. This method
of destroying Russian thistles has special
adaptation to dry areas where the harrow-
ing of the land has also a beneficial influ-
ence on the growth of the crop.

6. Aittunin cnltivation. Autumn culti-
vation will be found very helpful in
destroying the Russian thistle, and also in
preventing its further increase. It is effica-
cious in proportion to the early date at
which tlie plowing is done.

7. Legislative enactments. When vacant
lands have become infested, stringent legis-
lation is necessary to keep the weeds prop-
erly in check.

(2) THE PLANTAIN.

The two most important varieties of the
plantain are known as the common plantain
{Plantago major) and the buckhorn or

Description of Plantain and Buckhoni. 203

English plantain {Flantago lanceolata).

The common plantain, which seems to
follow everywhere in the wake of civiliza-
tion, is not a very troublesome weed. It
grows about dwellings, in paths where the
grass has been much trodden, and in waste
places generally where the soil is rich.
Good cultivation in nearly all cases will
suffice to keep it at bay.

The buckhorn or rib grass is a much
more troublesome weed, and has become a
source of great annoyance in the many sec-
tions of our continent into which it has
been introduced from Europe. It is a sim-
ple perennial. Its leaves are long, ribbed,
hairy, and narrowed at the base. The
stems wliich support its seed-spikes are
usually about a foot high, though they
sometimes attain a height considerably
greater. Several spikes are commonly
borne by each plant. These spikes are usu-
ally from one to two inches long, much
shorter relatively than those of the com-
mon plantain.

The buckhorn continues to grow through-
out the greater part of the growing period
of the year. If it be cut off above ground,
as with the scythe, after the spikes begin

204

IVceds.

to appear, other spikes will at once com-
mence to grow in their place. Its effort
to produce seed is thus sustained until late
in the season. It comes into flower in June,

THE BUCKHORN

and seems capable under certain conditions
of maturing seeds during all the months
following until cold weather is near.

The buckhorn is most troublesome in
meadows and pastures, more especially in

Eradication of Plantain and Buckhorn. 205

the latter. It also infests lanes, roadsides
and waste places, but it is not specially trou-
blesome in tilled fields, as it does not seem
to have much power to withstand good cul-
tivation. Its favorite soils are those which
may be termed sandy loams, or loams of
mild constitution.

This weed is most commonly distributed
by means of the seeds of grasses and clo-
vers, but it is also distributed to some extent
in the seeds of cereal grains which have not
been carefully cleaned. It is also distrib-
uted in manure, and by means of other
agencies. Its seeds are about the same size
as those of red clover, and are much the
same in color. In shape each seed is slightly
elongated, and furrowed on one side.

Modes of Eradication.

The following are the modes of eradica-
tion that have been found most successful
in dealing with the buckhorn. They are
also effective in killing the common plan-
tain and closely related plants.

7. Breaking up nicadozv-land and folloiv-
ing it zvith a ciiltii'ated crop. In the case
of meadows, plow them just after they have
been cut, and cultivate on the surface imtil

2o6 JVceds.

the late autumn. Grow a cultivated crop
the following season.

2. After-harvest and autumn cultivation,
follozved next season by a soiling crop, and
this by a quick- growing cultivated crop.
In the case of tilled- fields that are infested.
])low just after harvest, and thereafter give
due attention to surface cultivation. Next
season grow a soiling crop, and follow that
with rape, sorghum, or some other quick-
growing cultivated crop, grown as described
in section 3 of our treatment of the Canada
thistle.

5. Using the niozver, or scythe. In places
where cultivation cannot be introduced, per-
sistently use the mower or scythe to keep
the plants from maturing their seeds, or,
if practicable, use the spud to cut ofif the
plants below the surface of the ground.

(3) BINDWEED.

The two common species of bindweed
{Convolvulus sepiuni and C. arvensis) are
very similar creeping perennials witli trail-
ing habits of growtli. As they are so simi-
lar, they will be disc^'sscd under tlic same
heading. Bindweed, or as it is often called,
wild morning glory, usually grows to the

Description of Bindivccd. 207

length of two to three feet, but on some
soils it attains a much greater length. This
weed bears a close resemblance to the morn-
ing-glory. Its leaves are cordate or heart-

BINDWEED.

shaped, and its blossoms are sometimes
white, but more commonly they are of a
pinkish white, which may be tinged with
veins of blue. Its roots are larger than the

2o8 Weeds.

vines. They form a network in the soil,
and also go down deeply into it.

Bindweed begins to grow usually in the
month of May, and maintains its greenness
until the time of early frost, although its
growth is most vigorous during the early
months of summer. It commences to blos-
som early in the season, and continues to
bloom for a long time. Bindweed grows in
various crops, but it is most troublesome in
grain crops; yet when it is found in hoed
crops, it greatly adds to the trouble of keep-
ing them clean. It climbs up the stalks of
the grain amid 'which it grows, and, after
twining around them, it gradually draws
them down toward the ground. So com-
pletely intertwined antl entangled are the
vines within themselves that^ they some-
times greatly hinder the progress of the
mower or binder. This weed will grow in
various soils, but is most at home in soils
which contain a large amount of humus.

Bindweed is generally distributed by
means of the seeds of cereal grains, but it
is also carried from place to place by the
agency of water. In this last fact lies one
explanation of the extent to which it is
sometimes found in bottom lands. It is

Eradication of Bindweed. 209

also distributed by means of manure, and
in cultivated land it is propagated very
largely by means of the root-stocks which
it so numerously possesses.

Modes of Eradication.

The following are the modes of eradica-
tion that have been found most successful
in dealing with bindweed :

1. Modifying the rotation. In the
infested fields drop grain crops out of the
rotation until the fields have been subjected
to a cleaning process.

2. After-harvest and autumn cultivation,
followed by spring cultivation and a cul-
tivated crop. Plow the infested fields
immediately after harvest, and cultivate or
plow them sufficiently often thereafter to
keep the plants from breathing until the
period of growth ceases. The plowing
should be shallow, but at the same time
thorough. The last plowing, however,
should be deep, to prepare the soil for the
next crop. In the spring proceed in the
same way as in the autumn cultivation ; that
is, keep constantly stirring the soil near the
surface until it is time to plant a cultivated
crop, as corn or roots. Then give this

2IO Weeds.

crop careful culture throughout the remain-
ing part of the season.

It may here be remarked that, as this
weed is usually a singularly persistent
grower, it requires much labor and con-
stant watchfulness in order to eradicate it
completely in one season.

J. CaUing in the aid of sheep or hogs.
When bindweed grows in pastures and
waste-places, its growth may be checked by
allowing sheep to have access to the places
where it grows, inasmuch as they are not
disinclined to feed upon this weed, especially
early in the season^ while yet the plant is
tender. Hogs that have not had their
noses rung or slit to prevent rooting will
be a very efficient aid in eradicating bind-
v/eed, if they are pastured on it or turned
on to a plowed field which contains the
roots. They dig up the fleshy, succulent
roots and eat them freely.

(4) WILD BUCKW^HEAT.

Wild buckwheat (Polygonum convol-
vulus), sometimes improperly called bind-
weed, is a plant possessed of a creeping,
and also a twining and clinging habit of
growth. In some aspects it resembles

Description of Wild Biickzi'hcat. 211

bindweed previously described, but the
roots grow very differently, and there is
no resemblance between the blossoms or
the seeds of the two plants.

The plants grow singly, but oftentimes
in great numbers. The tendrils spread
abroad in different directions, and cling to
the vegetation amid which the weeds grow.
They will then clamber up to the very top
of the stalks of matured grain, and will
oftentimes cause it to lean toward the earth
in consequence of their weight.

The seeds resemble those of cultivated
buckwheat both in shape and color, but
they are not quite so large. They are pos-
sessed of a considerable degree of vitality.

Wild buckwheat begins to grow almost
as soon as the cereal grains, and it con-
tinues to grow and mature seeds until the
time of severe frosts. In spring cereals
many of the seeds are matured before the
grain can be harvested. It infests all kinds
of crops, but is much more troublesome in
cereals than in other crops. It gives but
little trouble in pastures and meadows.

Wild buckwheat will grow in various
soils, but it grows much more vigorously
in rich vegetable loams than in soil stiff'

212

Weeds.

and heavy or deficient in vegetable matter.
It has come to be a grievous pest on prai-

VVILD BUCKWHEAT

rie soils in localities where cereals are
grown on the same lands from year to year.

Eradication of Wild Buckzvheat. 213

Wild buckwheat is distributed by means
of birds, wind and water, and to a greater
extent probably through the agency of
manure, the droppings of cattle and the
seeds of cereals.

Modes of Eradication.

The following are the modes of eradica-
tion that have been found most successful
in dealing with wild buckwheat :

1. Varying the rotation. Vary the rota-
tion so that much greater, prominence will
be given for a time to meadow and pas-
ture and to cultivated crops. It may be
mentioned here that in the judgment of
the writer, too little attention is given to
the growth of cultivated crops in nearly all
parts of the Northwest. If these were
more extensively grown and suitably cared
for, noxious weeds would soon be mate-
rially lessened.

2. Grozving cultivated crops. Grow cul-
tivated crops and clean them so effectively
that none of the seeds of the wild buck-
wheat plants will mature.

3. Solving dean seed. Make sure that
only clean seed is sown, and use special
care in preparing: the seed of cereals for

214 Weeds.

sowing, or in purchasing the same for
seed.

4. Autumn cultivation. Plough the
land immediately after harvest when pos-
sible, to prevent the further maturing of
the seeds.

5. Harrowing cereal crops. Draw a light
harrow possessed of many short teeth
over the cereal crops when the plants of
the wild buckwheat have appeared numer-
ously above the surface of the ground.
When the work is judiciously done it will
be found very effective in relation to the
labor expended.

(5) CORN COCKLE.

The corn cockle (Agrosteniina githago),
also called purple cockle or pink-flowered
cockle, is a common annual weed in wheat
fields. It does not commonly occur else-
where, though it may grow in other grain.
In the winter wheat district it is a winter
annual.

The plant grows from one to three feet
high, usually with few branches ; the leaves
are long and narrow, and the whole plant
is thickly covered with silky hairs. The
conspicuous purple or pinkish-purple flow-

Description of Corn Cockle. 215

CORN COCKLE.

2i6 Weeds.

ers are borne on the ends of the branches ;
the calyx, which encloses the seed pod,
becomes much swollen as the seed develops.
The plant blooms in June and July, and
ripens its seed with the grain.

The rather large, somewhat flattened
black seed occurs commonly in thrashed
wheat, where it is easily recognizable and
difficult to remove. This seed is particu-
larly objectionable in wheat, as when it is
ground with the grain, it gives the flour a
dark color and unpleasant taste, and is said
to be unhealthy. The seed is poisonous to
chickens, hence screenings which contain it
should not be fed to poultry.

The white cockle (Lychnis alba) and the
sticky cockle or night-flowering catchfly
(Silene noctiUora), the former a white-
flowered biennial and the latter a sticky,
hairy annual with yellowish-white flowers,
are closely related plants which sometimes
occur in grain fields and meadows. A short
rotation, with the rather frequent intro-
duction of a thoroughly cultivated crop,
will keep both these weeds in check. The
methods of eradicating corn cockle are
equally effective in handling white cockle
and night-flowering catchfly.

Eradication of Corn Cockle. 217

Modes of Eradication.

1, Sozu clean seed. The best method of
preventing the growth of corn cockle in
grain fields is to sow clean seed. When the
weed is once introduced it is rather difificult
to eliminate from wheat fields where the
crop is grown continuously. Screening
will remove some of the seeds from seed
grain, but as they are nearly as large as a
grain of wheat, they are difficult to elim-
inate.

2. Proper rotation. As corn cockle is an
annual weed which soon gives way to thor-
ough cultivation, a system of rotation which
introduces a cultivated crop every two or
three years will, if proper care is used in
sowing clean seed grain, soon eliminate it.

J. Hand pulling or spudding the plants
which occur in wheat fields, if they are not
too numerous, is the surest way to check
the spread of this weed. The conspicuous
flowers make the plants easy to locate in
the field, and as they are readily removed,
this method is not as slow or difficult as
might at first appear.

4. Harrozving small grain in the spring
when it first appears above the ground, and

2i8 Weeds.

again when it is about three inches high,
will kill cockle and many other weeds. This
method is less effective on winter grains, as
the cockle starts in the fall with the grain
and many of the plants are too firmly estab-
lished by spring to be removed by the
harrow. Harrowing winter grains as soon
as growth starts in the spring does kill
many small weeds, however.

Observations. While this weed is easy
to eradicate if proper attention is given to
the methods just outlined, it will be found
to be quite persistent where wheat is the
main crop and no rotation is followed, on
account of the difficulty of removing the
seeds of cockle from the seed grain, hence
the necessity for exercising care in pre-
venting its introduction through seed grain
wherever possible.

(6) WHEAT-THIEF.

Wheat-thief (Lithospenniim arvense) is
sometimes known as gromwell, pigeon
weed, and redroot. It usually grows from
eight to sixteen inches high, but sometimes
in rich soils it becomes considerably taller.
It is more or less branched in its habits of
growth. Its leaves are narrow and about

Description of ]Vhcat-Tliicf. 219

an inch long, and are noticeable from the
fact that they are of a lighter tinge of green
than those of the cereals and grasses. Its
flowers are small, and white or of a pale
cream color. Its seeds cluster along its

WHEAT THIEF.

stems, and are produced abundantly. They
are endowed with much vitality.

Wheat-thief is an annual, but like false
fiax, it usually comes up in the fall of the

220 Weeds.

year previous to that in which it matures
its seeds. Its blossoms appear during the
latter part of May or early in June, hence
its seeds ripen before our meadows are
ready for harvesting, or before our crops
of winter cereals can be cut. It is so hardv
a plant that frosts do not destroy it. It
usually grows a little in advance of the crop
in which it is found, hence its presence may
most readily be detected just when it is
coming into blossom. The lighter shade
which its leaves possess also enables it to
be somewhat easily distinguished. It will
grow in any kind of soil free from stag-
nant water, but is most partial to sandy
loams.

Wheat-thief is most troublesome in crops
which mature early, and have been sown
the previous season, such as winter wheat,
rye, and meadows. It is also found in pas-
tures, but it seldom infests spring crops
to any considerable extent, although some
plants may survive the early cultivation nec-
essary for the preparation of the ground
for these crops.

Wheat-thief is most commonly distrib-
uted through the agency of the seeds of the
winter cereals and of the seeds of timothy,

Eradication of Wheat-Thief. 221

mammoth clover, and alsike clover. It is
not carried in the seed of common red clo-
ver. It is further distributed by the drop-
pings of cattle, by the manure of the farm-
yard, by thrashing machines, and by birds.

Modes of Eradication.

The following are the modes of eradica-
tion that have been found most successful
in dealing with wheat-thief:

I. Modifying the rotation. Drop out of
the rotation winter wheat, winter rye, and
meadow crops, but not necessarily pas-
tures, if these are kept eaten bare. The
omission of these crops from the rotation
need not continue for more than two or
three seasons if due attention be given to
autumn cultivation, as described in the next
section. In respect to pastures that are
infested, it will generally be sufficient to
deal with them by means of hand pulling.

p. Autumn cultiration. Give careful
attention to autumn cultivation, for it is in
the autumn that the seeds of this weed ger-
minate most freely. The first plowing
after harvest may be either shallow or deep,
as may be desired. If the seeds of this
weed have fallen numerously during the

222 Weeds.

harvesting of the immediately preceding
crop, cultivating the surface soil will be
preferable to plowing it. ^

Specific Modes of Eradication.

J. Grozving cultivated crops. Where the
land is suitable, grow cultivated crops, or
else grow rye and follow it by a cultivated
crop. Where cultivated crops are grown
alone, give careful attention to the autumn
cultivation which precedes their sowing.

4. Hand pulling and spudding. Where
the weeds are not numerous, resort to hand
pulling or spudding. This work, to be
easily done, and to fully accomplish the end
intended, should be undertaken while the
plants are still in bloom.

Observation. Whenever it may be nec-
essary to sow to grass, then, as in the case
of false flax, it should only be done with
such crops as spring wheat, barley, and
oats.

(7) BLUEWEED.

Blueweed {Echiuni vulgare) is a bien-
nial. It is sometimes known as viper's bug-
loss, but the more common name for it is
blueweed. In the Southern States it is

Description of Blnezvccd. 223

sometimes called the Canada thistle,
although it bears but little resemblance to
that weed. It is most common in Ontario,
New York and the states to the southward.

Blueweed is both upright and spreading
in its habits of growth, each' plant having
several branches springing from a single
stock. It grows to the height of from one
to three feet, according to the character of
the soil which it infests. Its leaves are
rather large, and those which grow near-
est the crown .spread out so that they lie
near the surface of the ground. Both
leaves and stems are covered with numer-
ous hairs, which stififen with the advanc-
ing growth of the plant, which explains
why blueweed is not relished by live stock.
These hairs are also far from agreeable to
the touch when one tries to pull the plant.
Its flowers are large, and of a deep, rich
blue color, thus giving the fields where
blueweed grows a very beautiful appear-
ance at the season of the year when it is in
bloom.

Blueweed is a biennial. During the first
season of its growth, it sends a strong tap
root down deep into the ground, and from
this several smaller roots branch off. Blue-

224

Weeds.

weed does not blossom in its first year, but
in the second year the stronger plants begin
to come into bloom in the month of June,
and the weaker ones later on, so that the
period of bloom usually extends over sev-

eral months.

The blooming season is also

BLUEWEED.

extended by efforts made to eradicate the
weed, for when it is cut off above the sur-
face of the earth, as with the scythe, hori-
zontal branches at once start out from the
crown and soon begin to bloom and bear
seed. Some of these newly formed hori-

Description of Blnezvccd. 22$

zontal branches hng the ground so closely
that, when the field is gone over again with
the scythe, it is not at all easy to cut them
off ; as the same thing occurs with each cut-
ting, as long as the growing period contin-
ues, and as the weed is a very prolific seed
producer, and as its seed is also very tena-
cious of life, it follows that in places where
cultivation is impossible, this pest is not a
very easy one to deal with.

Blueweed grows in various kinds of soil,
but its favorite feeding grounds are those
soils which contain much lime. It grows
vigorously in gravelly soils, even in those
which are suitable for use in road-making,
hence we frequently find this plant growing
right up to the travelled portions of the
roads.

As in the case of all or nearly all bien-
nials blueweed is not very difficult to keep
out of the cultivated portions of the farm,
but it is a very different matter when we
come to deal with it in fence borders, in
permanent pastures, on road sides, and in
waste places generally. In all these places
blueweed soon finds a congenial home, from
which it cannot be easily dislodged.

226 Weeds.

As regards the distribution of blueweed,
it is probable that the wind is the chief
agency employed in efifecting its spread
from place to place. The seeds of blue-
weed cling long to the receptacles in which
they grow, but in winter or toward spring,
the wind shakes many of them out of their
receptacles and drives them for miles over
the encrusted snows. This fact no doubt
will generally account for the sudden
appearance of blueweed in new centers,
where previously it had not been known to
exist. Blueweed is also probably distrib-
uted to some extent by means of clover
seed, where careless methods of farming
allow it to mature its seeds while growing
in meadows.

Modes of Eradication.

The following are the modes of eradica-
tion that have been found most successful
in dealing with blueweed :

I. In cultivated fields. Really good cul-
tivation will keep blueweed from getting
much of a footing in the cultivated portions
of the farm. When stray plants put in an
appearance in a field that is not desired to
be broken up that same season, the spud is

Eradicafion of Bluewccd. 22y

the most effective means for removing
them. The spud should in all cases be
made to go below the crown, for when the
plant is cut off below the crown at any
stage of its growth, it will surely die, bur,
not otherwise.

2. In pcruiancnt pastures, ivastc places,
lanes, etc. In permanent pastures, and in
waste places generally, if the plant has got
a strong foothold in them, it will be found
that any plan that will keep it from matur-
ing its seed will soon prove effective in
destroying it. Whether the spud or the
scythe be used must be determined by the
number of the plants to be destroyed, but
in either case the work will have to be done
more than once in a season, and also for
several seasons. It will have to be done
more than once in a season because, when
cut with a scythe, the plants at once spring
up again and begin to blossom. When the
spud is used, some weaker ones are certain
to be overlooked in the first cutting, but
these also will blossom and bear seed later
on. The scythe or the spud will have to be
used for several seasons, inasmuch as the
seeds^ying in the soil, being possessed of

228 Weeds.

considerable vitality, will continue to germ-
inate for years.

Observations. When fields containing
blueweed are pastured closely early in the
season, the production of the seeds will be
very much hindered. This metliod will not
alone be sufficient to eradicate the weed,
however, for some of the plants will be sure
to ripen their seeds unless some other
method of eradication be employed.

(8) THE W^ILD CARROT.-

The wild carrot {Daucits carota) is a
biennial. It bears a close resemblance to
the cultivated variety, more especially in
the portions above ground. It has a tap
root, which is more or less branched.

The wild carrot comes up early in the
season. It sends up long flower stems,
which terminate in an umbel or flower clus-
ter. It thus produces seeds very numer-
ously, and when cut off by the scythe or
otherwise it sends up other stems, and this
continues to put forth the effort to produce
seeds until late in the season. Owing to its
acrid juices, live stock do not care to feed
upon it.

Description of the Wild Carrot. 22g

The wild carrot is not greatly trouble-
some to crops where the usual cultivation
is good. Like blueweed, it is more com-
monly found in pastures, along roads and
railroads, and in waste places generally,
and to a less extent in meadows. It grows

THE WILD CARROT.

most readily in vegetable soils, but it also
flourishes in mild loams.

The wild carrot is brought to new centers
through the agency of railways, and to
some extent bv birds. Wind and water.

230 Weeds.

however, are the great agencies for carry-
ing and scattering its seeds.

Modes of Eradication.

The following are the modes of eradica-
tion that have been found most successful
in dealing with the wild carrot :

/. In cultivated fields. Give the arable
portions of the farm good cultivation. If
this be done, the wild carrot will soon cease
to appear in them.

2. In permanent pastures, lanes, zvasfe
places, etc. In pastures and waste places
keep the plants cut down during the second
year of their growth, cutting them off- with
the scythe as often as they attempt to
mature their seeds. If this be done thor-
oughly, at the end of two years all the
plants will be destroyed.

J. Using the spud. Where the plants
are not too numerous, they may be destroy-
ed with the spud by cutting them off below
the crown at any stage of their growth.

Library
C, State College

INDEX

Agencies of weed distribution, 40; not under
control, 55; partially under control, 56:
wholly under control, 56.

Alfalfa as aid in eradication, SO.

Animals, farm, distribution by, 43; wild, 51.

Annuals, 62; winter, 62.

Autumn cultivation, 90.

Bare fallow, use in weed eradication, 107; objec-
tions to, 109.

Biennial weeds, 64.

Bindweed, description of, 206; eradication of, 209.

Birds, distribution by, 50.

Blueweed, description o£, 222; eradication of, 226.

Buckhorn, description of, 203; eradication of, 205.

Buckwheat, wild, description of, 210; dica-

tion of, 213.

Bugloss, viper's, 222.

Burdock, description of, 133; eradication of, 136.

Canada thistle, description of, 115; eradication
of, 118.

Carrot, wild. 228.

Catchflj^ night-tlowering-, 216.

Cheat, eradication of, 187.

Classes of weeds, 62; annuals, 62; biennials, 64;
perennials, 66.

Cleaning farm of weeds, method of. 98.

Cleaning seed grain, 16.

Cleanliness, maintenance of, 96; cost of main-
tenance, 33.

Clean seed, use of, 74.

Clover, aid in eradication of weeds, 80; seed as
factor in distribution, 41.

Cockle, 214; corn, description of, 214; eradica-
tion of. 217; sticky, 216; white, 216.

232 Index.

Constant use of land, 87.

Control of weeds, 31.

Copper sulphate, use in spraying, 158.

Corn cockle, description of, 214; eradication of,
217.

Cost of weed eradication, 28; in pastures, 123.

Cost of crop production^ increased by weeds, 37.

Cost of maintaining clean fields, 33, 101.

Couch grass, 176.

Creeping perennials, 66.

Cultivation, autumn, as method of eradication. 90.

Cultivated crops as means of eradication, 78.

Daisy, ox-ey^, eradication of, 127.

Darnel, eradication of, 187.

Distribution of weeds, 40; by animals, 43, 51; by
birds, 50; by clover seed, 41; control of
agencies of, 55; by farm animals, 43; by
farm implements, 48; by feed-stuffs, 44; by
floods, 51; by grain, 41; by grain screen-
ings, 77; by grass seed, 41; by live stock,
43; by manure, 45; by packing material^ 46;
by railways, 50; by root-stocks, 54; by
thrashing machines, 49; by tillage, 48; by
vehicles, 47; by water, 51; by wild animals,
51; by winds, 52.

Dropseed gras^ 179.

Eradication of weeds, 58; abundant crop pro-
duction an aid in, 88; use of alfalfa in, SO;
use of annual pasture crops in, 93; by au-
tumn cultivation, 90; by use of bare fallow,
107; by use of clean seed, 74; by use of
clover, 80; by constant use of land, 87: cost
of, 26, 29, 122; by use of cultivated crops,
78; by destruction of screenings and chaff,
77; by home production of feeds, 85; by
modifying rotation, 71; necessity for
thorough work in, 95; possibility of, 21; by
prevention of seeding, 91; by pasturing with

Index. 233

sheep, 84; by study of habits of growth, 62;
by use of soiling crops, 82; by spraying, 156.

Fallow, use in weed eradication, 107; objections
to, 109.

False flax, description of, 165; eradication of, 151.

Farm animals, distribution by, 43.

Farm implements, distribution by, 48.

Feeda, home production of, 85.

Feed stuffs, distribution by, 44.

Fermentation of manure, 111.

Fertility, increase of, as means of eradication, 88.

Floods, distribution by, 51.

Food value of weeds, 19.

Foxtail^ description of, 191; eradication of, 194.

Freedom from weeds, increase of profit by, 36.

Frenchweed, description of, 168; eradication of,
151.

Grain, cleaning for seed, 16; screenings, dis-
tribution of weeds by, 77; seed,, distribution
by, 41.

Grass, couch, 176; dropseed, 179; pigeon, 191;
quack, 176; scutch, 176; summer, 191;
vanilla,. 179; wheat, 179.

Grasses, eradication of weedy, 175.

Grass family, weeds of. 175.

Grass seed, distribution of weeds in, 41.

Grazing with sheep, eradication by, 84, 93.

GromweU, 218.

Home production of feeds .as means of eradica-
tion, 85.

Implements, distribution by, 48.

Increase in farm profits, 36.

Injuries from presence of weeds. 13; by crowd-
ing, 15; harbor for insects, 16; for plant dis-
eases, 16; by increasmg cost of cleaning
grain, 16; by shading, 15; by effect on
rotation, 18; by use of moisture, 14; by use
of plant food, 14.

234 Index.

Insects, harbored by weeds, 16.

Iron sulphate, use in spraying, 156. •

Kinghead, description of, 141; eradication of, 146.

Lettuce, wild, 137.

Live stock, factor in distribution, 43.

Machinery for spraying", 159.

Machines, thrashing, cleaning before use, 76;
distribution by,, 49.

Manure, distribution by, 45; fermentation of. 111.

Method, of cleaning farm, 98; of using spud, 105.

Methods, adapted to conditions, 72; of eradica-
tion, general, 58.

Modification of rotation, 71.

Moisture, use of, by weeds, 14.

Morning glory, wild, 206.

Multiplication of weeds, 11.

Mustard, eradication o^, 151; tumbling, 171;
wild, 161.

Mustard family, weeds of, 149.

Night-flowering catchfly, 216.

Number of weed species, 9.

Oat, wild, description of, 183; eradication of, 187.

Ox-eye daisy, description of, 127; eradication or,
130.

Packing material, distribution by, 46.

Pastures, cost of eradication in, 123; use of an-
nual in eradication, 93.

Pennycress, description of, 168.

Peppergrass, eradication of, 151.

Perennials, 66; creeping, 66.

Pigeon grass, 191.

Pigeon weed, 218.

Plantain, description of, 202; eradication of. 205.

Plant diseases, harbor for. 16.

Plant food, use of by weed.s, 14.

Prevalence of weeds, 7.

Prevention of seeding, 91.

Production, increase of cost of, 37; prevention of
seed, 91.

Index. 235

Profits, increase by freedom from weeds, 36.

Purple cockle, 214.

Quack grass, description of, 176; eradication of,
179.

Radisli, wild, eradication o£. 151.

Ragweed, description of, 141; eradication of, 146.

Railways, distribution by, 50.

Redroot, 218.

Root-stocks, distribution by, 54.

Rotation, effect on, IS; modifying, 71.

Russian thistle, description of, 196; eradication
of, 200.

Salt, use of, in spraying, 156.

Screenings, distribution by, 77.

Scutcli grass, 176.

Seed, clean, use of, 74.

Seed grain, distribution by,. 41.

Seed production, prevention of, 91.

Shading, injury to crops by, 15.

Shepherd's purse, eradication of, f^l.

Sheep, use of in weed eradication, 84; grazing off
annual crops with, 93.

Soiling crops, use in weed eradication. 82.

Sow thistle, description of, 124; eradicaton of,
126.

Spraying, as means of eradication, 156; cost of,
160; machinery, 159; materials, loS.

Spud, description of, 104; method of using, 105;
use of, 99.

Spudding, cost of, 101.

Sticky cockle, 216.

Stinkweed, 168.

Summer grass, 191.

Thistle, Canada, description of, 115; eradication
of, 118; Russian, description of, 196; eradi-
cation of, 200; sow, description of, 124;
eradication of, 126.

Thistle family, weeds of, 113.

236

Index.

Thrashing machines,, cleaning before use, 76;
distribution by, 49.

Tillage, distribution by, 48.

Time to spray, 157.

Tumbling mustard, description of, 171; eradica-
tion of, 151.

Vanilla grass, 179.

Vehicles, distribution by^, 47.

Viper's bugloss, 222.

Water, distribution by, 51.

Weed.*;, distribution of. 40; eradication of, 08;
injuries from, 13; multiplication of, 11; num-
ber of species of,, 9.

Wheat grass, 179.

Wheat thief, description of, 218; eradication of,
221.

White cockle, 216.

Wild animals, distribution by, 51.

Wild buckwheat, description of, 210; eradica-
tion of. 213.

Wild carrot, description of, 228; eradication of,
230.

Wild flax, description of, 165; eradication of,
151.

Wild lettuce, description of, 137; eradication ot
140.

Wild morning glory, description of, 206; eradi-
cation of. 209.

Wild mustard, description of, 161; eradication of,
151.

Wild oat, description of, 183; eradication of, 187.

Wild radish, eradication of, 151.

Winds, distribution by, 52.

Winter annuals, 62.

PRACTICAL FARM BOOKS.

This list of books is compiled to give home seek-
ers the most practical information pertaining to the
farm. Every book written in such a manner as to
be easily understood by the amateur as well as the
practical farmer. With a library of good farm
books at your command you have the first assets for
a profitable homestead.

POPULAR FROT GROWING.

A book that explains the factors of successful
fruit growing and orchard protection, insects
injurious to fruits, diseases injurious to fruits,
how to spray, harvest and market. The prin-
ciples of plant growth. Propagation of fruit
plants, etc. Every method outlined is practical
and carefuly illustrated so that the explanation
will be easily understood. 300 pages, cloth cov-
er. Postpaid ?1.00

VEGETABLE GARDENING.

A complete book which explains the methods of
growing vegetables for home use and the market..
Any person contemplating entering the truck gar-
dening field will find this book a source of infor-
mation that will result in diminishing labor and
increasing the profits. Price, cloth cover, $1.00;
paper, postpaid * '50

AMATEl R FRUIT GROWFNG.

Is a practical book compiled especially for the
use of beginners and is written with special ref-
erence to cold climates. This book is not intend-
ed to enter the field of scientific fruit growing.
Price, cloth cover, $ .50; paper $ .25

ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE.

Is a complete and thorough treatise on practical
agriculture, animal breeding and kindred sub-
jects. It explains the fundamental principles of
farming and is of incalculable value to beginners
and contains many valuable suggestions to prac-
tical farmers. Price, postpaid $1.00

FARM \\^NDBREAKS AND SHELTER BELTS.

This book treats on the caring of trees, the meth-
ods of planting, the care and general description
of the most suitable varieties for windbreaks and
shelter belts. Complete information for practical
tree growing and directions from seed to maturity.
Paper cover, postpaid ? '25

FARMERS' HANDY MANUAL.

A 52 page book treating on the feedmg and care
of dairy cows. Valuable information for the be-
ginner. Paper cover. Price $.25

EVERGREENS AND HOW TO GROW THEM.

Owing to the constant demand for a manual treat-
ing on the growth and development of evergreens
has resulted in the publishing of this complete
guide to selection, growth, and care of evergreens
from seed to nursery. It also touches on the sub-
ject of windbreaks and hedges. Cloth cover,
$ .50 ; paper cover $ .25

THE HOME BEAUTIFUL.

A book about flowers, both for ornamental and
commercial culture. No home is complete without
some of Nature's beauties and this book, known
also as "The Gold Mine in the Front Yard," ex-
plains the cultivation, oise and care of flowers,
most practical in farming communities. 280
pages, cloth bound $1.00

GRASSES, AND HOW TO GROW THEM.

The name implies the character of this book. Ex-
plains the culture of all the principal grasses in
America. How to make hay; temporary and per-
manent pastures, etc. 453 page book, cloth bound.

Price $1.50

WEEDS, AND HOW TO ERADICATE THEM.

A fine edition which should be in the hands of
every practical farmer. Gives the name and de-
scription of the most troublesome weed pests and
methods of destroying them. Cloth cover, $ .50;
paper cover $ .25

SWINE BREEDERS' MANUAL.

This is practically a complete veterinary book
with 500 questions about swine answered. This
book also treats on the subject of diseases and
carefully compares the different breeds and touch-
es upon feeding and pasturing. Paper cover.

Price $.25

FEEDING AND IMANAGEMENT OF LIVE STOCK.

A very interesting and instructive series of lec-
tures on the principles of feeding, breeding, man-
agement, and marketing of cattle, sheep and
swine. 100 pages of concrete facts that should
be in the possession of every man contemplating
farming. Price, cloth cover $1.00

STANDARD BLACKSMITHING, HORSESHOEING AND
WAGON MAKING.

The latest and most complete book on the prac-
tical work of blacksmithing, describing how to
make tools as well as to use them. Cloth bound $1.00
FARM BLACKSMITHING.

A complete treatise on blacksmithing, written
particularly for amateur farmers who want a
work shop where they can profitably spend stormy
days. 100 pages, cloth bound $.50

JAN 79

N. MANCHESTER,
INDIANA 46962