The pioneer press. (Miller, Hand County, S.D.) 1893-190?, 1895-04-25

morse yard vas upcn the north side of
it and the cattle yard on the south side.
with gates leading from each of these
into the thistle stack yard. | have
wintered 80 horses and Is head of cat
tie, taking care of them alone. At
night would open the gPte from the
horse yard and allow the lorSas to run
to the thistle stack until morning, then
| put them back in their yard, gather
up whatever may have gotten down
under their feet, putting 1T n their
racks and let them finish it mp through
the day. After doing this | turn the
cattle into the stock yard and the first
thing they do is to lapu all The thistle
set' he norseS Lave S :attereI on the
gl ornd. They leave ii as clear as they
would a box that had had grain in it.
The thistle had settled so firmly in the
stack that the cattle could only pull
out a mouthful at a time, so they vast
ed but very little. My stock all ran
loose in the yards, going into the sheds
when they choose, but have not been
shut up or tied up one night during the
whole winter. They have had no grain
except what they got from the thistle,
but have kept in good condition and
are looking well. / am confident
there has not been 200 pounds of the
thistle wasted during the winter. |
think | may have fed about 5 tons of
hay besides the stack of thiStles.
To sum up my idea of the curse Of
u state ii is about like this. Fire
and water are excellent servants, but
hard masters, so also is the Russian
thistle. A few years ago the buffalos
We're running wild ove these broad
prairies, but their value was not fully
known until they were ruthlessly ex-
terminated. So alsonow is the Russian
thistle running wild and choaking out
u fields Of grain, and nearly all vege-
tation. and when it does not go fast
enough to suit some farmer. he takes
his drag or his pitchfork and starts it
along and virtually says, multiply and
replenish the earth" whereas he
should take the mower, hOrse-rake and
hayrack and gather it into his barns,
or stack it TO be fed to his stock
through the long winter months.
Our wild upland hay is for growing
stock, second to one that grows, but
thu thistle, if properly cut, cured and
stacked, is in my opinion worth at
IcdSJ 20 per cent more IMAM InlS nay lOr
feeding. Add to this the fact that there
are thousands of acres all around us,
upon which we can cut from three to
five times mOr per acre than we can
hay upon the prairie, and is it not fol-
ly for rs to continue to talk of its be-
ing such a curse to our state? Let 1t
be cut early and often. Let every far
mer do his best to get a few head of
cattle or sheep to eat what he has
saved. Let every road master enforce
the law in his district in regard to
noXious weeds. Let there be a law
passed making it a misdemeanor for
any person to clean his land of foul
weeds in any manner that shall en-
danger or cause the spread and dis
tribution of seed on adjoining lands,
and in 10 years time we shall hear the
same talk about the Russian thistle
that we now hear about the wanton
destruction of the buffalo. We shall
also be able TO convince outside parties
who are doing SO much against us 10y
telling that the thistle is driving every
body out of the state, hat we have one
of the best stock countries to be found
IN earth. That we know n good thing
when it is thrust upon us and are abun-
dainty able to use and take ARE of it.