The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-09-07
TOO MANY WEEDS

A majority of the citizens of st. Paul
DO not stop to think of how much a
nuisance weeds are to a city as large
as this and the bother it is to the city
officials having charge of the radiance
of weeds to see that the streets and
vacant lots are cleared of this anoyous
work of nature.
One thing may be said in this con-
nection, however, and that is that the
city departments having charge Of this
work have not been so badly hamper
ed this year as in former years.
There are state laws governing the
radiance of weeds of various kinds,
both in the cities and on the farms.
There are also city ordinances in
several of the larger cities, but in spite
of these laws and ordinances it has
been found rather hard by the officials
in charge to educate the people to
standard where they will take an in
terest in the work of Kidding the farms
and the streets of the cities in this
state of obnoxious weeds.
In the city of st. Paul the health
department has charge of Kidding va
cant property of weeds and the city
engineer has charge Of clearing the
streets throughout the city Of weeds.
Flowers Cause of Hay Fever.
The state laws pertaining to the
various species and the city ordinance
covers principally the matter of rid
ding the city of burdocks and Cana
dian thistles There are a few species
of weeds that will cause disease, among
them being the golden rod, which is
claimed by medical men to cause hay
fever.
The health department of st. Paul,
under the able management of DR..
Ohage, has done it's best to rid the
vacant property of this city of various
weeds that have been a nuisance to the
residents and in most cases the prop
erty owners have been compelled to
pay for the work.
According to the report of the health
department the weeds in the vacant
lots have been cut pretty we'll this
year and the people seem to take more
of an interest in this part of keeping
their yards and surrounding vacant
property free from obnoxious weeds.
This is especially true so far as the
burdocks and Canadian thistles are
concerned, as the state law as we'll as
the city ordinance are very rigid con-
corning these two species of weeds,
which must be cut down before they
go to seed, because if they once get a
start 1T is a bard matter to get rid of
them.
Appropriation Is Inadequate.
The matter of keeping the streets
and avenues throughout the city rid
of weeds has fallen to the lot of the
city engineer, and the custom of this
department has been to put force of
men to the number of twenty-five or
thirty to work in different parts of
the city for about a month each sum-
mer.
This year, however, the city engi-
neer has been unable to keep the usual
force of men at work on this work for
the usual period, owing to the fact
that his contingent fund practically
gave out about two weeks ago, and
all of the money available has to be
used for repairing dangerous side
walks and washouts.
There are not nearly as many weeds
In the streets of st. Paul as there
were last year, although majority of
the streets in the outlying districts,
such as Merriam Park, st. Anthony
Park, Manchester Park, Warrendale
and Hamline have good grounds.
There has also been considerable kick
ing on the condition of the streets in
the Eighth ward, west Of Victoria
street.
Assistant City Engineer Starkey, in
speaking of the matter, said that it
would take about $4,000 a year to keep
the streets of the city in proper shape
so far as the weeds are concerned,
but the yearly appropriations have
not warranted the engineering depart
ment expanding this amount of money
for this purpose. Mr.. Starkey said,
however, that the streets in the main
parts of the city were entirely free
from the weed nuisance, and the out
lying districts were being steadily rid