Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1895-04-18
c MornroS. in Dakota Farmer.

&C MorLToS, in Dakota Farmer.
AS my experience with the Russian
thistle may be interesting to some of
your readers should you see fit to pub
iiSh it would say:
Ii we wish to clean the land of foul
weeds wcmust stop sowing them. The
farmers of this country alone are IN
consciously sowing hundreds of bushels
of Russian thistles every year. How
do they do it? Well, a friend said to
the last fall. Il am cleaning my land of
thistles in fine shape When asked
how he was doing it he said. II am go
ing over it with Il four horse drag and
That takes up every one of them; as
soon as they are loose the wind blows
them away and leaves the land as clean
rs a house floor" | ''suole" and went
along thinking that with his way he
would not only thoroughly seed his
own land. but also every spot of plow-
ed land around him. Again, standing
ON the street one day last month, l saw
farmer at work in his wheat field
sowing thistlcs. He had pitchforll
and passing from one thistle to another
he would loosen them from the ground,
toss them in the air, and as the wind
WAS blowing quite hard. away they
would go across his land knocking out
the seed continually. and on across his
ne!shbors land. seeding, seeding every
where they went, and the men who
clean their land in this way, look over
1T and doubtless thank God they will
have no further trouble with the foul
weed, not once thinking of the mill
sous OF seeds they have planted for
another crop Suppose you ask them
about the seed they have sent over to
their ncighbors, they reply, Am my
brothers keeper? let him take care of
his and will take care of mine"
There is an old saying chickens will
come home to roost,' and so will the
Nussian thistle. am not much of a
farmer, but ] believe that whatever is
worth doing. should be done well.
have often been asked TO tell
through some paper what | knew
about the Russian thistle. Well, first,
! know that the way it is now handled,
IL is great curse to the farmers. but,
surely prove Il blessing in disguise.
In 1893 sowed flax upon 30 acres of
old ground; ii came up nicely and |
thought surely ! would have Il good
crop. but, soon the thistle made its
appearance and for a while it was quite
question which would come out
ahead, but finally the flax seemed to
say Just what have many times said
IN regard to other matters. Life is too
short for me to quarrel with these fell
lows. SO it gave up the struggle and
let the thistle get to the front, and |
got no flax. Not knowing at that time
the value of my crop of thistlcs and
flax, let it stand until the spring of
1894, then in order to use the land !
was obliged to get rid of that immense
crop OF old thistles, but how could it be
done? decided to try my hay bucker,
soon found they would unload them
selves and all had to do was to stand
on the machine and drive ON and on
until the thistles would extend so far
in front that they would begin to roll
nnder, and soon all would be left bo-
hind except what remained on the
teeth, and these would rub or drag
along on the ground cleaning up every
kind of a weed. My man followed with
pitchfork and matches, throwing to-
gether and burning everything / left.
When we were through we thought
we had done splendid job, and so
we had, but, like the Others | have
spoken Of, we did not think of the seed
we had left all over the ground. Soon
after | seeded all but 10 acres of that
ground with black barley. | put it in
-tith Il press drill and in four days it
was up and looking as fine as any
grain ever saw. 1t grew until it was
about inches high and by that time
the ground had become SO dry that the
barley would not grow; it seemed to
stay right there for about two weeks
In the meantime the thistlcs had come
though it was coated over with green
moss, and dry weather only made that
crow the faster. 1t seemed to Just
}augh at the barley because it could
lot grow without rain; it shot right
past it leaving it almost ont of sight
The latter part of July had about 20
acres of thistles with a little barley
faiXed with it standing 20 inches high,
and l did not know what to do with it.
Realizing that must some time clean
off the land in order to get another
crop, went at it with the moving
machine and cut the whole OF it down,
raked it up, drew it home and stacked
it, thinking would see if it could be
used as fodder. l made my stack IS
feet wide and Ga feet long. Not stack
ing it as soon as should after cutting,
found it almost impossible to work
upon it, so we piled it up in Tie best
shape we could from the wagon until
it was about Is feet high. by this time
was disgusted With the thistle. but
still more SO at what people said about
my fine stack of hay, as they called il;
so left several loads in the field, think
ing would burn that when got time,
but my stock got the start of rue ard
ate it all up. After having built nj,
stack as before stated, | topped it out
with about dozen loads of coarse l.av,
tied it down and left it, thinking per
haps had fooled away my time and
money.
My stock and hay yard is about 10
feet square. My sheds and stacks are
so arranged that they break off the
north and west winds. My yard is di-
vided into seven different yards, with
gates SO arranged that can throw
all into one, or keep each by itself.
NV feed racks are in tho vo ri o1ono