Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Benton County, Or.) 1900-1909, 1900-08-10
PEST OF THE FARMER.
The CANADA THISTLE DEFlES
LAW AND SCIENCE.
All Other Forms of Vegetation Are
Smothered by Its Presence-Eradica-
tion Is Difficult Because of Its BEING
So Extremely Hardy.

| Of all the weeds hated and denounc>
ed by the farmer the worst hated and
the most denounced is the Canada this
Tie, Carduus arvensjs, familiar along
country roadsides in thick patches and
In vacant lots in cities where it springs
| up without apparent cause. thrives
| without encouragement and perseveres
against any but the most determined
and unrelenting efforts to root it out.
In the city its presence Is not impor-
tant, but to the farmer it is a serious
matter, for its dense patches smother
all other forms of vegetation and war
rare against it is without glory, but
never without wounds. Wedding out
thistle patch is one of the bugbears of
| country boyhood.
| In recent circular the division of
botany of the United States Depart
ment of Agriculture treats of the Can
ada thistle historically, scientifically
and practically throughout it's trouble
some career. 1t appears in this pam
phlet that the thistle may be found to
De a matter of concern to persons who
nave never been in the slightest degree
interested in it and this through the
process or law. 1t will doubtless be a
matter of great surprise to the suburb
ante to learn that though he may let
the prlckly plant flourish upon his bor-
ders, II he allows it to go to seed and
scatter its propagat ting material abroad
Tue majesty OF the law may step in and
une MIN. No fewer than twenty-four
states prescribe the Canada thistle,
ana most of them prescribe penalties
Tor permitting the weed to produce
seeds,
The Canada thistle can't prove its
arrival in the Mayfiower, but 1t is
pretty Old American nevertheless.
early ootanists held that it was iudi.
genous In western Canada, but the best
specific opinion at present holds that II
WAS PROBABLY never indigenous on this
comment, but was introduced into the
French settlements in Canada early in
the seventeenth century. At nresent
the weed holds sway from Maine to
virginia and westward to North Da
kota ana Kansas, and on the Pacific
coast from Washington to northern
California. From the Mississippi to the
ROCKIES 1t is not luxuriant enough to
De troublesome and the Southern
states are practically free from it and
likely to remain so, as it does not thrive
in that region.
Ihere Is danger of its Introduction
INTO the northern prairie States and the
ROCKY Mountain region, as the climate
and agricultural conditions are suitah
iof us growth and 1t is now abundant
ana troublesome in Manitoba and
along the line of the Canadian Pacific
Railroad from Winnipeg to the coast
Inc great hindrances in the way of
erauicatlng the Canada thistle when It
mas once got start are Its hardness
ana the pertinacity of the travelling
roots. Ihese run along underground
sometimes at depth of three feet and
thrust forth shoots into the upper air
with the greatest vigor, when the nlant
ltseir has been destroyed. AS showing
the vitality and power of these shoots
case In Washington is cited whera
IN vacant lots the thistle had been cut
down and, as was supposed, rooted out
and the places where it grew were COW
cred over with soil from excavations.
packed hard by the passage of MANY
carts, so that the running roots must
have been at least yard beneath the
surface. Nevertheless its shoots pene.
trated this soil and started new
patches of the plant.
Various methods of eradication arc
advocated by different authorities. but
all are slow and involve considera ble
labor. Where the running roots can
be reached and turned up by blowing
this method, If frequently repeated. is
effective. but in light, rich soil. which
is permeable by the air, plowing is al
ways Ineffective. Where a dense sod
can be formed this will choke out the
thistle. Hoeing out, burning, sailing
and treatment with kerosene and other
destructive chemical agencies are suc-
cessful In many cases and some farm
ers commend the practice of covering
small patches of the plant with tan
bark or straw, but it has been found
that thistles will lie dormant for az
long as three years in porous soil and
pop out as live and ready for damag age
as ever when the straw or tan bark is
removed.-New York Sun.
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