Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1885-06-20
Troublesome Weeds and Plants in
Meadows.
Nashville American.

plS iiiOiO llol Oouo'llJ lhiSoNSu WIN
troublesome plants. Among those
most dreaded is the white top or flea
bane Ergeron PhiJddeLphicaene). This
is perennial plant and comes into
flower about the time the meadow
grasses bloom. 1t grows with singu-
lar luXuriance, and sometimes to
such an extent as completely to OBJ
scure the grasses in the meadow.
Stock, when very hungry, will eat
it, but they by no means relish it.
There is but one way to eXterminate
this troublesome weed, and that is to
pluck it out when it first begins to
infest the meadow. 1t should never
be allowed to go to seed, but should
be cut, if possible, before it flowers.
Thick sowing Of grass and frequent
top dressings of manure will produce
such thick sod that the white top
may bekept in subsection.
Broom grass or as commonly de-
nominated broom sedge ARoropOgon
ScOpd1iuS) is another troublesome
pest. Rarely can a meadow in Mid
die or East Tennessee be kept free of
it for more than two or three years.
1t is a true grass, and when young
and tender is very much relished by
stock. Mich cows delight in it, and
it makes probably the sweetest and
best butter as it does the sweetestand
best beef. Mountain beef, famed for
its delicate flavor, is made altogether
by this grass, and it grows with a
luXuriance unrivalled by any other
grass of our climate, springing up
amid the most unpropitious sur
r0undings and growing to the height
Of two or three feet upon the thinnest
soils. 1t is not always, however, a
flag of sterility. 1t feeds upon all
characters and conditions Of soil, COW
ering with verdure in early spring
the old fields that have been worn
out and abandoned and springing up
with an equal luXuriance upon the
rich alluvial river bottoms. 1t flaunts
its brown banners to the breeze in
the fall everywhere, noteven respect
ing the sanctity of our lawns and
yards. 1t was the primitive grass of
the "barrens" which in the early set
Element of the State covered many
thousand square miles, extending
from the Tennessee River on the
south up through the highlands and
on through Christian, Todd, Logan
and other counties in Middle Ken
lucky to the Ohio River. These bar
rens were at the beginning Of the
present century almost destitute of
trees, but were covered with the dens-
est grow of broom grass, upon which
all the herds of cattle and tlOcks of
sheep and even horses belonging to
the early settlers lived and grew fat.
After the country became settled and
put in cultivation this grass still
refused to succumb to the mandates
of civilization, and yielded none of
its strength, but much of its space to
the cultivatOr of the soil. 1t stands,
however, like an ever-Watchful SEN
tinel, ready to occupy any place that
the pillow has vacated. 1t fights reso-
/ Iutely for its ancient Possessions, and
it is no imagination to say, that if
tillage Of crops should be suspended
for three OF four years in the State,
this inVincible enemy would recover
all it has lost in territory if it did not
add to it.
But how can it he eradicated from
our meadows? Permanently it never
can. 1t may be checked by the APP
plication of stable manure and by
cutting off the crowns every spring
with sharp hoe. The manure gives
a greater proportional strength to
other grasses and enables them to
contest thesupremacy withthe broom
grass, but it is necessary to renew
these applications every year. 1t is
a giant in its battles with other grasses
and requires no adventurous aid.
Yet, although it is troublesome,
broom grass has its good points. 1t
| will check gulIios and furnish a large
quantity Of early grazing, 1t is not
altogether an enemy as the white top
is. In Kansas and other Western
| States, its next of kin, the blue stem,
is cut with moving machines and
used extensively as a coarse hay.
/ Broom grass, if cut very early, before
it becomes hard and crusty, might
prove to be equally as valuable.
There is another great pest to om
meadows, the trumpet vine lBiUo-
uiu R07'culs which springs up i'm all