The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-05-28
Cuban planters are able to send red ba- nanas in any great quantity to this city. New York Mail and Express.
KILLING WEEDS.
A Solution of Arsenic the Surest Her.
 bicide.

DlclQe.
 The princple of attempting to kill
 weeds by spraying them with chemicals
 is new one in this country. Various
 commercial weed killers" have been
 put on the market, and in a general way
 we have been told that salt and blue
 stone or sulphate of copper can be used
 for this purpose. Prof l.. R. Jones of i the Vermont experiment station has
 spent some time in testing some of these 1 herbicides, as they are called A brief
 statement of his results will interest
 many readers Common salt was ap-
 piled dry in amounts varying from 4 to
 20 pounds per square rod but it is so
 slow in it's action that Prof. Jones will
 not recommend it for weed killing SUD-
 erintendents of public parks have used
 salt successfully in walks and roadways
 where weeds are troublesome. The
 value of salt as a weed killer depends
 upon the fact that it draws water out 1 of the plant tissues. It is, therefore,
 more effective when applied dry on a
 hot, sunshiny day. Sulphate of copper has been recommended, but did not give satisfactory results. Plants apparently killed by it came to life later and were as troublesome as ever. In Europe weak solutions of sulphate of copper are used to destroy the weeds in grain In North Dokato also such experiments have been made, but Prof Jones does not recommend it. Kerosene was ap- piled in the proportion of one part kero- sene to three parts of water, but eight gallons of this mixture to the square rod failed to kill the weeds. Crude car
 bolic acid destroyed the weeds where one gill or more of the acid was used
 with a gallon of water at the rate of eight gallons per square rod. In 12 hours after this was applied, all the parts of the weeds above ground were brown and dead. These plants included plantain, dandelion. chicory, ragweed and grasses The dandelion roots were not entirely killed, and some new shoots appeared two months later. Quack grass and Kentucky blue grass also threw up some new shoots, but the other plants were mostly killed The trouble with carbolic acid is that it does not penetrate deeply enough into the soil to kill the underground parts of certain weeds It's odor is against it. This is strong and very disagreeab ble; another objection is that the acid does not dis solve well in water. The mixture must be constantly stirred in order to keep it uniform.
 White arsenic was used in combina- ton with washing soda, one pound ar senic to two pounds of soda, and from three to nine gallons of water. This weaker mixture killed practically every weed. The perennial grasses were the ]! only plants that survived and most of
 them were killed. It did not kill so quickly as the carboic acid but it's in qury was permanent. Two objections to the use of arsenic are the trouble of preparing it, and its dangerous charac-
 ter Arsenic of soda is a form of ar senic readily soluable in water. This | was used at the rate of one pound | to four gallons or eight gallons of water. | The latter strength destroyed all | weeds, and it's action was little | quicker than the other mixture [ of arsenic Two commercial weed kill | lers were used at the rate of eight gal Ions to the square rod. They destroyed [ the weeds quickly and effectively, and | were, on the whole, better than the car | bolic acid. though no better than the arsenic solution. Chemical analysis showed that these commercial herbcides contained arsenic not unlike the home mixtures here named. Prof. Jones con- | cludes that such places as gravel walks, | drives and tennis courts can be kept | free from weeds by the use of the ar ar applications each season will keep down i the weeds. Salt in the dry form can be | used for this purpose but is not so sure nor so prompt as the arsenic solu- | tion.-From the Rural New Yorker.