The Savannah morning news., 1902-01-13
The Science of weeds.


Vast sums of money and an army
of men are being employed by the gov
ernment to locate. understand and put
to their proper uses the weeds of the
country. From every town and ham
let and country wayside this great
government gathers reports concerning
these vegetable outlaws. The impu-
dent dock that surreptitiously slips his
seed on to the coat of a passerby In
Nebraska Is recorded in the annals of
the Agricultural Department and the
line of the docks progress is marked
on the maps which show the areas OF
distribution in the United States. It
Is now known what and where the
weeds are. and a constant surveillance
Is kept over them. Those that threaten
TO become pests are headed off by all
the forces of government 1t is fact
that an order to kill some lone s&eci-
men of a pernicious Canada thistle has
been sent by telegraph from washing
ton.
"There is. however, little need of en-
couraging the destruction OF weeds.
The thing important now Is to utilize
those that have been found indispensa-
bIe There are weeds that are soil
reviewers. weeds that are food for man
and beast and weeds without which
Thousands of acres Of our most fertile
lands would be wastes to-day. These
weeds the government is endeavorinC
To preserve II is surprising In the
light Of these discoveries to consider
mans attitude toward weeds in gem
eral. That he should have sworn at
them, sought measures OF eXtermina-
ton, plowed them toilsomely under
year after year, and yet himself re-
mained really handicapped in the bat
hn lnl rs41
the aid which one or more
of these would have readily
given him seems incongruous. One
kind properly used would have sup
piled deficient soil with potash, another
would have brought ii the needed lime,
a third the nitrogen or phosphorous.
taking IL out of the atmosphere and
depositing II where his crops of cereals
and vegetables would readily draw
upon II and wax strong. In one he
could have found a better food for his
cattle than he ever had before, in an
other a hardy worker capable of thriv-
ing with scarcely any rain and yet
making returns i'm food or fertilizer far
bevond making returns in food or fer
tilizer far beyond the petty achieve
rents Of the most pampered and cul-
tivated OF domestic plants. The outlaws
of husbandry have for ages held the
secret Of binding the sands of the sea
so as 10 fix the shore; OF digging deeper
than any plow and searching for the
minerals which make deficient land ar
able. and Of drawing upon the atmos-
phere and taking from It the valuable
chemicals which no farmer is rich
enough TO buy In sufficient quantities
TO make his poor holding profitable.
These bandits OF the garden have
turned out for the most part TO be
saviors and mans best friends. and so
clear have their distinguished merits
become that scientists are even apollo
gizing for the need OF calling any OF
the remaining and AS yet little under
stood vegetation, weeds So we have
all unused plants now divided into poi
sonous and poisonous. with the re-
servatlon that all may be and probably
are extremely useful II poisonous. the
new attitude IS to End out why Where
the poison comes from--out OF the air
or the earth? How is II distilled? What
rs It's nature? Whether n is a known
or unknown poison What ita effect
may be- on one and every other OBJ
ieci. particularly upon life and growth !
These and others are the questions
scientists seek ~ answer by inyesti-
eating the weeds"