Arizona republican., 1901-05-16
THE FOXTAIL PEST
Hints For the Eradication of Farm
 CTS Enemy.

A bulletin recently issued by the uni- yersity of AriZon agricultural experi- ment station Is on the subject of Wild Barley" better known as foxtail It is prepared by Prof. A. J. McClatchie. and is as follows:
 There is now maturing in southern Arizona the seed of grass that should be destroyed as promptly and as thor oughly as practicable. It is known in this region most commonly as 'foxtaii' There are about dozen grasses in the United States known as foxtails, but the one called by this name in Arizona is. not SO called in many of the other parts of the world to which 1t has :.leard from Europe. to the place of its origin. It belongs to the same genus as our common cultivated barley, and is simply a wild barley Cultivated bar ley was called hordeum by the Romans. and is now known among botanists as hordeum hexastichon. which is simply the Latin for 'sixrowed barley. The botanical name of the troublesome weed is hordeum murimum. the Latin for wall barley Since we call the cor responding species of oats wild oats. this weed is very properly called wild barley
 But whatever lta correct common name. or whatever t is to be called, it is certainly a very troublesome pest It is by far the most noxious weed or the Salt River valley, the writer receiv- ing more inquiries concerning it than concerning all other weeds combined ,fria haan gGnnpi1liX numerous during the past year. indi- eating that the weed is becoming more common and troublesome, The fact also that Professor Tourney, in bulletin 22. Something About Weeds issued only a little over four years ago. does not mention this one indicates it's re- cent introduction, or at least that 1t has only recently become troublesome. It is now the most widely spread and most common winter and spring weed of at least the Salt River valley. It is everywhere. along roads, fences and ditches and in fields.
 Wild barley is an annual that grows from seed just as. cultivated barley does. It starts to grow in the fall or early winter at about the same time that barley Is commonly 'sown, and natures in the spring or early summer. as does cultivated barley. Like the latter. it grows readily with alfalfa during the winter. making the most of it's growth while the weather is too cool for alfalfa to grow rapidly. If is in alfalfa meadows and pastures that it Is the most troublesome. When young 1t is eaten quite freely by cattle. but as it approaches maturity 1t ls avoided by them, and thus gets an opportunity to produce seed. Even when grazed quite closely it manages to produce short-stemmed heads that the cattle avoid, The reason 1t Is allowed to mature seed in pastures. as cultivated barley would not be, is that the grain is very small and the boards very rigid and very irritating to the mouths of stock. Consequently the wild barley succeeds in producing a good crop of seed with which to SOW the ground for the coming season.
 Not only does the wild barley have the objectionable boards of the com mon cultivated barley. but it's heads break up into short sections with sharp, piercing points that work into the lin- ing of the mouth and other parts of the digestive tract of animals. This causes this pest to be very objection able in alfalfa meadows. where it ap- breaches maturity just in time to be cut with the first crop of hay. It's pres ence in alfalfa has caused an annual loss of thousands of dollars to the farmers of the Salt River valley. A combined effort that would destroy the pest. or so reduce it's numbers that it would no longer infest meadows and pastures. would be worth large sum to Arizona.
 ITO eradicate this weed will be no easy task. but much can be done to cheek It's spread and to decrease it's prevalence. If all the wild barley seed that Is maturing this month were de- strow ed there would be much less of 1t next season. It would be impracticable to destroy it all. but much of that grow ing along roads. fences and ditches can be cut and burned. This is what every farmer in Arizona should do. It will be useless to attempt to eradicate it from