The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-09-16
Streaming THE SOIL SURE
DEATH TO "C0CKSPURS."

How Uncle Sam Is Knocking Out the
"ViIe weed" on the Potomac Flats.
If all other means of destroying the
cockspur in the Park Extension fail,
it may be that in time, when the city
is richer than it is now, the steam
harrow-irrigator and weed destroyer
will be the death blow to the Cenchrus
Achinatus, alias cockspur, alias sand
burr burrgrass, ct al. The following
shows what the government is doing in
Washington towards retaining the
Potomac flats from weeds and insects
and may be a prophecy of the near fu-
ture in Savannah:
In the warfare against weed and
insect pests Il new chapter is to be
written which, before it is ended, prom
ises to record an extended conquest.
Experiments have been conducted by
the government on sections of the Po-
tomac flats which hitherto were will
derness of rank weeds inhabited by mill
lions of winged and burrowing in
sects. These same lands are now pro-
ducing crops of celery and other plants
in which not a weed grows, and which
are unmolested by insects except as
they fly in from neighboring fields not
subject to the expert treatment.
"One of the soil and plant physiolo-
gists of the Department of Agriculture
predicts that the time is near at hand
when men with the necessary outnts
will go about the country taking con-
tracts before planting time, to rid
farm entirely of weeds and insects, just
as they now travel from place to place
with threshing machines in the summer
and autumn.
THE present system of warfare is
somewhat elaborate, but forthcoming
experiments will include methods whlch
can readily be adopted by farmers III
general. A farm implement resembling
a harrow in outwad appearance may
be used as part of the outfit. 1t IS
designed to have tubes of steel take
the place of the harrow teeth. Pliable
steam hose, similar to that in use
in the r-brake system of railway
trains, will run from a traCtton-englne
to connect with central steam reser-
voir on the harrow, and, thence radiaI-
ing to the harrow tubes, will discharge
into them boiling water and steam
under from eighty to ninety-fve pounds
pressure. Hitched behind the traction
engine, this steam subcharged harrow
will be hauled over a field about to
be planted. The boiling water and
steam thus injected into the soil viii
kill every form of plant and insect
life
"In the experiments conducted un-
der Federal auspices the results have
been amazing, even to those who hoped
the most from them. The hardy seed
of the Russian thistle (Salsola kali
tragus)-a weed which. although not
introduced into the United States UNI
til 1878, has spread to nearly every
state in the Union, and become such
a menace to agriculture that legisla-
lures and interstate congresses have
convened to plan campaign against
it's destroyed instantly by the new
process. Even the perennial roots of
such weeds as the horse-nettle, or
sand spur, cannot Withstand this flood
of steam.
1--WE find everything in the soil
rhizomes of the most noXious grasses,
the hardest weed seeds. all forms of
fungi, and both adult and larval forms
of insect life-totally destroyed by our
new system of treatment" said one
of the government scientists
I'm connection with the experiments
ar interesting discovery has been
made by the Bureau of Chemistry; that
| the soil treated by the steam process
| is considerably enriched. the explana-
ton being that the animal and vege-
| table life destroyed is converted into
heterogeneous and other fertilizing ele-
| ments."