The Delaware ledger. (Newark, Del.) 1879-19??, 1883-12-01
AGRICULTURE.

CANADA THIsTIEs. The thistle is the
most annoying weed that intrudes upon
the farm. Hard to exterminate and to-
nacious of life, it propagates wherevers
plans of any kind can secure foothold.
and once in possession OF field the cost
of its eradication is sometimes greater
than the value of the field itself. 1t is
a perennial plant, with annual stems,
and reproduoes itself from seeds and
roots, and it is due TO ats powey of rapid
reproduction that it is enabled to
Withstand the farmers attacks 30 sue
cessfully.
The thistle is now receiving the at
tention of many experienced and prac-
teal agriculturists, among them Mr..
Archibald Stone, of Binghamton, N. Y,
who states that no plant is so entirely
dependent on sunshine as the Canada
thistle. Grow them in mass, OF so
closely together that they will complete
ly shade the ground, and as fast as the
leaves get matured sufficiently to begin
to restore to the plant the nutriment it
has cost the plant to produce them them
they will be through IN the shade by
the constantly increasing mass of leaves
on the top; they will die for want of
sunshine, the stems become naked and
the roots become exhausted while in
bloom, and your ground will have to he
reseeded before another crep grows. II
the thistles are so scattering that they
will rot shade the ground, corn, oats OF
clover will have to be sown,
| In his article TO the Husbandmeu, Mr..
Stone states that ripening a crop OF seed
is exhaustive to any crop, yet to think
OF getting rid of Canada thistles by
moving after they had ripened crop OF
reed and burning it seems to be toe
slow a process for this age.
Other writer's have recommended diff
ferent methods for exterminating the
thistles, and claim that individual efforts
alone are useless. As the down is easily
carried by the winds to considerable
distances The cleanest fields are as liza.
BILE to ntlichon MS the ioulest. No mat
ter how careful farmer may be tokeer
the pest of, his efforts will be thrown
away If his adjoining neighbors do moi
exercise the same care as himself. The
work OF destruction can be done at the
most suitable periods by co-operatiy,
action, and each individual will he a:
much interested In the work upon hi
neighbours field as upon his own. Thu
distribution OF the seeds must be pre-
vented in preference to anything else
and much labor may be saved in 30 do
ing by moving the thistles whel
young, and before they can have an OPP
portunity to seed. 1t must be done Al
often as necessity for 30 dong occurs
and the next business will be to destro,
the plants by shading with some othe
crop, and pulling or digging them out
which is not often necessary, excep
when fields are entirely oyerrun. Blu
the continued use of the mower is on
of the best remedies TO try, although j
requires the abandonment of the tiel,
for season. That, however, Is the pen
atty the farmer pays tor the intrusion
! and is not heavy compared with othe
/, tried methods.
1t might be claimed without nue.
eIaggeration that the growth OF singl
thistle on a farm is the beginning Q
decay, and should cause as much alarE
as the entrance of an epidemic in CON
, munity. As sanitary measures are need
/ ed in the case of epidemic, SO is coop
! erative effort required to prevent tn
spread OF thistles