St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-08-21
RUSSIAN TRISTLES.
They Are Surprisingly Thick
in st. Paul and Mil
neapolis.
THEY MUST BE ERADICATED.
Prof. Hays, Of the Experiment
Station, Says They Are
Easily Killed.
THEY MUST BE ERADICATED.
HE DESCRIBES THE WEED.
Havs Has Issued a Bulletin
for Use of Street Com
miSsionerS.

Tn spite of the fact that the huss'".
thistle agitation has been carries" y" a.
Washington, as we'll as at many plaee'
I'm the West, most citizens OF Tue wv"
Citips do not realize that these cities are
6nad witn this weed, which.at ITS pres
ent stage of Development, when lio"c
inc annears very innocent. Inc rail-
roads of the state were appealed 10 ny
Gov Nelson, and have generaiiy
cleaned the weed out of their right OF
way. 1t would seem that IL was oniy
flung tor the large cities TO JOIN III
the general crusade against liiiS
weed and to organize some sys-
tematic attempt at keeping IL
ont of unoccupied lands and roadways
about the cities. In many parts vi
tho cities these weeds have gotten
very strong hold, and where one plant
was noticed year ago there are nun
dred now. This same rate or increase
will doubtless keep up anotner year,
and the cities will be infested In all uu-
occupied lots that are not well set W
grass. Many citizens have now learheu
TO recognize the weed, and~there Is
demand for the city street coihuiis-
sioners or the city council to take steps
ia preyent the great number OF thistieS
now growing from ripening their SEEDS.
According to Prof. Hays, who recently
issued a bulletin Oh this suOJec1' tue
weeds will begin to rlpen thelr
seeds early in September. They are
killed with comparative ease. as All
that is needed is TO cut them OH Delow
tneir branches. A comparative small
amount of money would clean them out
OF the entire cities. 1t is learned from
Prof. Hays that the people OF the state
are getting thoroughly aroused regard
ing this weed, and that numerous let
tiers of inquiry regarding the bulletin
recently issued from the experiment
station and telling of the presence OF
the weed at many points In the state,
have of late been received at the eXper-
iment station. A travelling man from
MINNEAPOLIS wrote to Gov. Nelson ask
ing the governor to institute some
action that would eradicate the thistles
in the two cities. In this letter Mr..
Clark. the writer, says: "Ihey are ten
times worse this year than last, and L
have seen them in all parts of Minnie
apolls the past month. Two years more
and not child in the cities can go bare
foot. while few hundred dollars spent
this season will destroy them." The
county auditor of Pipestone county re-
auested 100 bulletins, that all road over
seers in the county might have one, with
apressed specimen of the plant, and other
county auditors have made like requests.
As the experiment station has not the
addresses of the road OverSeers it is
good plan for all county auditors to re-
quest these bulletins and distribute
them to the overseers of roads in each
district. The experiment station offers
To send bulletin with enclosed piece
of the plant to road officials and to any
school district that will apply. Nearly
all the county papers in the state, upon
receiving the bulletin from the station,
printed articles calling the attention of
tile farmers to the subject, and the
farmers all over the state are showing
great interest. 1t has been suggested
that the cities could well afford to
spend a thousand dollars or less to
clean this weed out the present season,
being careful to distribute the money
have to be entertained next winter at
the soup houses. If there is no legal
way of the city council or the street
commissioners getting at the matter of
killing the weed on private property.
it looks as ii a public subscription would
be wise thing. if public-spirited parties
in or out of the boards of trade would
take hold of the matter. 1t is under
stood that Congressman McCleary has
been requested by Gov. Nelson and the
officials Of the experiment station to
take hold of the matter of having
commission appointed by congress to
investigate the Russian thistle, and see
if some business-like plan can be insti-
tuted to destroy the pest.