Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1895-05-30

land thus seeded should first be burned
over to destroy as many as possible OF the
seeds on the surface 1t may then be plowed
shallow, so as not to bury the remaining
seeds too deeply in the soil. The succeed
ing cultivation, not deeper than the plow-
ing, will induce the termination of seeds
in this layer of soil and kill the seedlings
as they appear. The land may then be
plowed deeper and the cultivation repeated
until the weed seeds are pretty thorough
ly cleared out to as great depth as the
plow ever reaches. Below that depth,
eight to ten inches, very few weed seeds
can germinate and push a shoot to the
surface.
While barren summer following is
good it is usually found that the best
results are obtained with crops that allow
cultivation during the greater part OF
the season, and that do not shade the soil
too much. But broken land should not
be allowed to remain idle. Abundant
crops of annual weed seeds are matured
every fall on potato and corn land and in
stubble fields where "a profitable crop of
crimson clover or winter oats or rye might
have been grown. A little grass seed
raked in on bare hillsides will often keep
down annual weeds and will at the
same time prevent washing. Moving the
stubble about two weeks after harvest in
grain fields that have been seeded to grass
or clover will check the annual weeds and
at the same time produces a mulch that
is very beneficial to the seeding during the
August drouth.
Biennials, such as burdock, wild car
rot and bull thistle, store up nourishment
in thiskencd roots during the first year
of growth and during the second year
they produce seed and die. Many species
which are ordinarily true bicnnials will
live three years or possibly longer if seed
production is prevented by moving or
cutting the stem above the crown of the
root.
Biennial weeds are readily killed by
cultivation such as is given to hoed crops,
and tie seeds may be cleaned out of the
land by this method. The weeds of this
class are usually most abundant in old
pastures, along roadsides, and in waste
places where the soil is seldom disturbed
The weeds must be destroyed in these
places if the work of clearing the seed out
of cultivated fields is to be made effcc-
tive.
Perennial weeds reproduce themselves
by seeds and also propagate by some
form of perennial underground stem, as
the root stocks of Canada thistle and
couch grass the CORN or solid bulb, of the
nut grass and chufa, and the bulb of the
wild onion. A few plants sometimes
classed as noxious weeds have runners
above ground, as Bermuda grass and Gin
quefoil. To destroy perennial weeds,
seed production must be prevented and |
the underground portion must be killed. |
Seed production may be prevented by |
moving when the first flower buds ap-
pear, the same as In the case of ANIMALS |
or bicnnials. Tho best methods for killing
the rootstocks vary considerably accord
ing to the soil, climate, character of the
different weeds, and the size of the patch
or the quantity to be killed. In general.
however, the following principles apply:
1. The rootstocks may be dug up and
remedy that can be practically
applied only Ia small areas
2. Salt, coal Oil, or strong acid applied
SO as to come In contact with the freshly
cut roots or rootstocks destroys them for