The Colfax gazette. [volume] (Colfax, Wash.) 1893-1932, 1906-07-13
Wild MUSTARD PEST
BOtanist at w. s. c. Tells How
1t May BE Eradicated.
Weed Is PropOgated From Seed and
Must be Fought From That
Standpoint.

/ That wild mustard, which ia threaten.
ing the wheat fields and causing uneaai-
ness in the Palouse snd other grain sec
tlOns, may be overcome by concerted
effort, is the opinion Of Prof. r. Kent
Beattie, botanist at tie Washington
State College, who has prepared the fol
lowing article upon the subject:
The tumbling mustard (sisymbrum
| altissimum) has occupied the attention
OF the farmers Of eastern Washington for
several weeks. 1t is locally known as
the Jim Hill mustard, probably be.
cause it made its start along the Great
| Northern railroad
This mustard is proving to be a Sc
riOus pest in the wheat fields. It il
| tough and wiry and will not readily 90
through the harvesting and threahing
machines. 1t grows taller than the
wheat and thus prevents heading. 1t
seeds very readily and produces large
| numbers Of easily distributed seeds. In
| the fall it breaks off near the ground
aOd rolls before the wind like a tumble
weed distributing it's seeds wherever it
goes.
The tumbling mustard may most
easily be distinguished from the other
mustards occurring in eastern Washing
ton by its long seed pods which vary
when mature from two and half to
four inches or more long
Must Destroy the Seed.
''The tumbling mustard is an annual;
That is, it grows from the seed every
year and has no other way of propa-
eating itself. The general principle up-
on which a treatment must be based is
it's destruction before it goes to seed.
This may be accomplished by NOW
ing after it has made it's growth and be
fore the seeds ripen. This seems to
kill it. Moving too early, however. will
often cause it to sprOut up from the base
of the stem. This is the method which
should be pursued in roads or waste
places or where there is no crop TO be
saved. If the mustard is beginning to
ripen when it is cut it should be burned.
Needs Drastic Measures.
In the grain fields hand pulling alone
can now save this years crop. Ii the
weed is too abundaOt to make this
feasible, the crop should be moved and
put up for hay before the mustard seeds
ripen. Or il it is impossible to do any
thing with the crop it should be moved
and burned.
For the future, however, the problem
is not so difficult. Mustard in wheat
field is a sure sign that the land has not
been properly cared for. If the land had
been properly cultivated when in summer
fallOw last year there would have been
no mustard this year.
How to Rid the Land.
ITO rid the land of mustard go over
it with a disk as soon as possible after
harvest and before the fall rains. This !
will cover all the mustard seed and |
cause it to germinate. The seed must |
not be plOwed under, however, or it may
be covered so deep that it will give trOu-
BILE for years to come. II it comes up |
we'll in the fall during the early fall rains |
and the land then dries up enough to |
work it. the mustard may be killed by
disking it and perhaps following the disk |
with spike tOOthed harrow to complete
ly pull up the weeds.
''If the work can not be done in the |
fall the land may be dsked in the spring
This may be followed by spring blowing
and the planting of crop of barley or
spring wheat or the land may be summer
fallOwed. Summer falOws, however,
should be watched and kept clean. 1t is
always poor farming from any stand
point to let a summer fallOw grow up to
weeds.
Individual Effort CommendabIe.
"Many farmers believe that there il no
use in one farmer trying to rid his fields
of this mustard unless all his neighbOrs
do likewise. That this is not the case is
shown in several places in eastern Wash
ington where good farmers have clean
fields alongside the weedy ones of their
poorer neighbOrs. Ii a farmer let's his
land grow up to weeds when it should be
clean he cannot help getting a bOuntiful
crop OF weeds the next year in his wheat.
He should not blame these results on
providence or his neighbors.
1T is very desirable, however, that
the problem should be made much easier
for all by concerted action. Every farm
er should clean up his own land and the
adjacent roads and the road supervisors
should aid in the destruction of this
weed
"The tumbling mustard now occurs
very abundantly all over the Big Bend
and down into the PalOuse country as
far as a line drawn from Riparia to
Thornton. Southsast of this it also oc-
ours to quite an extent bat not quite so
abundantly. 1t may be found as far
southeast as Pullman. Next year it will
probably be very bad in that region un-
less more care is taken than has been in
the past. If all would unite it could be
stamped out in one year.
Needs Legislation, Too.
"Our present weed law which includes
only the Canada and Russian thistles,
should be amended by the coming legis-
lature so as to give to the state expert
ment station the power to designate
such a weed as this a nuisance and
should provide that the counties should,
by and with the advice Of the experiment
station, enforce it's destruction"
WORK OF CONGRESS-.