Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1886-12-23

animals, a subject of the greatest I'M
portance to stock breeders.
| AT ten o'clock the doors were opened
to the public and the hall was soon
filled.
| The following paper was read:
NoxIOUS WEEDS AND HOW TO DESTROY
| THEM, BY OMAR J. ARNOLD OF FEN
| NIMoRE, WIS.
| Plants that serve no useful purpose
whatever; that choke up the soil and
drain its vitality; that prevent the
growth and development of our crops,
are weeds The less amount allowed
to grow upon our farms the greater the
yield of our farm products and larger
The profits of our fields.
shall not try to describe all noxious
weeds, but will confine my article to
| those that should be prohibited by law;
| that are the most troublesome, and are
so tenacious of life that nothing short
of united effort upon the part of the
farmers will prevent them spreading
and infesting our fields and roadsides.
| A sure indication that the owners are
indolent. and slack in farm manage
ment. The most troublesome weeds
are usually imported and their intro
duction should be strictly guarded;
the damage not being realized until
they have gained strong foot-hold.
Once in they are never again entirely
-xterminated, but remain in spite of
all war waged against them. Many
farmers in Grant county are aware of
| the damage caused by Canada thistles
10 the Eastern States, but have no idea
that in many towns of our county the
Canada thistle has made its appearance,
while in the outh-eastern counties it is
a serious damage to many farms. The
author of the present weed law, Hon.
Adam Apple of Racine county, assures
ne that there are hundreds of acres in
his and adjoining counties infested with
Canada thistles. Mr.. Roberts of Ke-
nosha, says that in the county where he
lives. probably nine tenths of the far
mers are afflicted more or less with
Canada thistles. But in contradiction
20 all this we ind those who oppose the
enforcement of the weed law
In our County press not long since,
I correspondent stated that the Can
ada thistle does not grow in Wisconsin,
and teasel, snap-dragon and white
daisy are flowers At the time this
correspondent wrote bis article, Can
ada thistles were growing in bis town
ship
To illustrate how single stalk can
propagate and spread from farm 10
farm, n test was made by counting the
seeds upon plant of average size and
vas found to contain 65, 365. These,
when ripe, are conveyed by the wind to
IS many different localities. A piece
# the root the size of goose quill and
two inches long was planted on the 1st
of April and by November had extend
ed its roofs under the surface to the
distance OF eight feet. Most of the
roots were six inches under the SUR
face, while Others had penetrated to
he depth of two and half feet The
whole. when dug up from the earth
and washed, weighed four pounds.
In the spring following between fifty
and sixty plants made their appearance,
| which must have sprung from the root
| remaining in the ground.
To destroy plant of this nature re-
quires perseverance. diligence and care.
The least neglect upon our part and
he plant assumes greater proportions
| than before, as no halfway work will
Kill them Any of the following
| methods employed in this manner will
prove successful.
LIST method Frequent blowing, COM
mencing in June, and the operation re-
| )eated as often as the thstles show
1 kn al 50
End method-Cut in July and August,
and pour kerosene on the roots.
3rd Misunderstanding stock upon
patches tor one season is claimed by
| many to be an effective remedy.
Quack grass has been very widely dis
| seminated in various parts of our county
and State by being carried in packages
Of fruit, trees shipped from nurseries in
tected with this grass, or purchased
with timothy grown upon farms seeded
with this DoXious weed. This grass in
its damaging effects being in many par
ticulars similar to the Canada thistle,
the only difference being that the seed
| is not conveyed upon the wind to the
surrounding fields. The stalk and
caves closely resemble the wheat plant.
1t produces long, slender roots. which
| Intervene, forming strong sod. The
| roots every few inches have joints, and
from many of these, stalks are sent up
bearing leaves and seed. Any disturb
auce of the soil by pillow or harrow has
tendency to multiply the plants, and
unless radical measures are used it will
soon occupy the whole farm. Its APP
pearance in many localities should
.ause every farmer to use all means to
| check the growing evil
Cockle-bur needs no lengthy descrip-
ton: The farmers present no doubt
have seen the plant flourish in all its
glory along the roadside, attaching the
ours when ripe to everything that came
in contact with them, ''dead- beating
their way to other parts to grow up with
the country. This weed has been OBJ
served 10 spread over the farms of the
slack and indolent, until more cookie
burs were raised than corn or oats
Observation has shown .he burs con-
veyed, during heavy rains, to adjoining
fields. Also by stock passing from one
| field to another. Past experience
proves that 1t is almost impossible to
prevent the spread of burdock and es-
pecially cookie bur, when the owners of
| adjoining farms will allow the same to
grow without any special effort to pre-
vent them from going to seed. In such
cases, barbed wire and eternal vigilance
have proved failure in preventing an
encroachment upon our farms and high
| ways. Under such circumstances many
towns have made a practical test of our
new Weed law.
All are (with few exceptions) of the
| opinion that the interest, tendency and
purpose of the law is good. Quite dis
cussion arose as to the propriety of call
| ing cockle-bur teascl. After fully in
vestigating the question, find that the
| Weed law so intended 1T. In letter he
writes: ''rhe bill was framed after
laws of some of the States, and my i'm
| preston was then and is now that
cockle-bur and teasel are Identical
Another serious objection raised was
that the INDECENT farmer never did and
never will make any attempt to cut out
weeds, no matter how many laws are
| made for their destruction.
Now this law will either make the in
dolent farmer destroy the weeds or will
compel him to pay the town for doing
it, and instead of the enforcement of
this law being burthen upon the tax
payers, it will be source of revenue, pro-
vided any fines are collected. 1t may
not be, BotanicallY speaking correct.
And from practical test and observ =
ton in my opinion the following chang %