The Columbus journal., 1894-08-22
Wild or PflcklV Lettuce

Wild or Pricklv Lettuce
A late Illinois bulletin saws:
A plant which promises to become .
very serious weed pest in Illinois is
already well established in different
parts Of the state. As it spreads with
unusual rapidity, it is especially i'm
portant that the plants now growing
should be destroyed, at least that they
should be prevented from maturing
seeds. These are produced in great
numbers and are readily carried by
the wind. This plant is the wild or
prickly lettuce Uactuca Scariola), a
vigorous growing plant, having q
single stem from one I as much as
four or more feet high. This stem
has many leaves, usually six inches or
more long, perhaps one and q half
inches wide, with irregular edges
and prickles on the edges and
on the midrib. The color of the leaves
is rather q light green. The plant has
small yellow flowers which appear in
July or August The writer has never
known q weed to increase so rapidly
or to thrive more vigorously than docs
this in the vicinity of Champaign 1t
grows vigorously in compact blue grass
sod, in cultivated fields, along road
sides, and in shaded or exposed situa-
tions. 1t is not a perennial and does not
spread from the roots. Cutting the
plant at or near TIE surface will some
times destroy it. Cutting them twice
or three times will prevent the matur-
ing of the seed. There is always dan
ger that some plants will be missed
or that a few may send up seed stalks
after even . second cutting. Wher-
ever it can be done the plant should
be pulled or dug up, or the ground
plowed. Cutting close to the ground
with a hoe will usually be effective;
moving, unless repeated, is much less
certainly effective. Farm animals
will sometimes eat the young plants.
In localities where the plant is still
rare its spread can be prevented with
little effort In many localities only
concerted action by farmers, road
commissioners, and holders of village
lots will prevent a still further spread
Of what has already been a serious
trouble. In any case it may con-
fidently be expected that the time,
effort and money required to get rid
Of the weed will be many fold greater
next year than this. if this years crop
of seed is allowed to come to maturity,
This lettuce, like many of our worst
weeds, has been introduced from
Europe. The writer has not heard of
its having been noticed in any con.
siderable quantity at any place in
Illinois until within the last three or
four years.
The Cows and the Hired Man.
Every discerning farmer who ha.
kept cows knows in a general way
that there is a great difference in
mixers in the amount Of milk they
will get from the same cow, says
IIoart's Dairyman. As between
two hired men in milking ten or twelve
COWS of equal flow, N man will be
worth double what the other is in his
influence over the COWS. Until DR..
Babcock made a special experiment
on this matter but little was really &C.
curately known as to the extent of
this personal influence in affecting
the profit of cows. How much we
have learned on old, old questions in
the past ten years. The doctor made
a careful test, which was published in
the Dairyman some years ago, but
which should be mentioned frequently
on account of its Importance to the
dairy farmer. 1t is important that the
size and scope Of the matter become
q living, vital principle with him,
guiding him in his own treatment of
his COWS and in the education of the
men he employs A hired man who is
well educated in the handling of cows,
who has n quick brain. a kind heart.
a patient manner. and a skillful hand
is worth double the amount that a
man of opposite character will cost
DR.. BabcOcii found that one mixer
obtained from four cows ~ > pounds
of butter fat in seven days. From the
same cows, the week following, an
other mixer obtained 2l.s pounds.
Here was a difference of nearly So
pounds of butter fat depending for it's
value, of course, on the price of but
ter. Neither of these mixers were
abusive, and both MIXED the cows
equally dry. BY this convincing ex-
pertinent any dairyman can see how
important it is to take special pains to
educate the hired man, as we'll as
himself to au understanding of what
he has at risk. The usual number of
cows MIXED by one person in Il large
dairy is from eight to fifteen. In DR..
Babcock's experient, if butter was -
cents a pound, one man was worth, at
least, 2S cents per COW q week, more
than the other. Where a man is milk
ing, say, ten cows, this would amount
to s.. so a week. or nearly ST. a month.
This is but one of the hundreds Of fine
points that throng the pathway of
dairy farming: 1t shows SO clearly that
this unthinking, threading, unskilIful
way of handling cows that SO many
farmers practice can not pay in the
of things.
England and France.
A PETITION was lately presented in