Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1907-12-27
Callahan in St. Paul Pioneer Prsss.

| WnlCn VIII yet Bermlnate ana tnere
are many old roots which have not
been completely smothered because the
process CT starvation has not been
continued sufficiently long However
the writer can safely vouch for The
statement that spraying when prop
erly undertaken is a much cheaper
means Of disposing Of this pest in
| lawns than any other mode now in
use, and that the grass need in no way
be injured The writer was able to
| prepare 4 solution and properly spray
an area of approximately ITO feet by 10
| feet in two hours time. 1t would. OF
course, he impossible to cut but a few
dandelions in this time. Plantain, tho
| more hardy. also gradually dies out
under the spraying.
Apparatus: For ordinary lawn pur-
poses the ideal apparatus Is the COM
pressed air type of hand spraying ma
chine. 1t Is necessary that sufficient
pressure be maintained by the pump
to make q forceful spray Of a fine
form. Ii the liquid is thrown in large
drops, the grass will he more or less
injured as the very young grass roots
beneath the soil have slight power of
resisting the action Of the chemical.
The capacity of the tank should be
approximately three to four gallons,
and it should be of such neat con-
struction that one can readily carry
it about without soiling clothes. Nee
essarily, If it is properly air tight 1t
will be free from leaks and chances
to spill liquids.
The machine should be fitted with
about three feet of compression hose
and q three foot extension rod allow
ing one to readily swing the nozzle
over the lawn. The nozzle should be
of such a nature as to throw rather
wide faring funnel-shaped spray. For
city parks, roadsides and the larger
lawns some one OF the traction carts
will he found desirable. Cities and
towns will find it an economical way
Of grassing the road sides and caus-
ing the destruction of unsightly weeds.
Every city and town should possess
one or more good spray carts and sew
eral hand sprayers, the latter to al
low spraying to he done in waste
places, difficult to reach with the trac-
ton sprayer. A man can readily spray
over an area as fast as he would NOW
over 1t whether he is working by hand
or with team. The traction sprayer
is rather more rapid in action than
moving as the machine allows of trav-
cling over rougher ground.
What to Use: The most satisfactory
substance for general work upon dan
delions and miscellaneous roadside
weeds is iron su1phate, used at the
rate Of approximately two pounds for
each gallon Of water On lawns for
dandielions alone where a hand ma
chine is used the strength OF one and
one-third to one and one-haf pounds
per gallon will be found to give the
desired results, tho, if the dandelions
are large and coarse and the grass
hardy, two pounds for each gallon OF
water will give best results.
When to Spray: On lawns do not
spray until two or three days after
cutting and do not NOW the lawn I'M
til from two to three days after spray
ing. Spray on bright, sunshiny days.
The lawn should be prepared for
spraying by thoroughly watering pre-
ceding the spraying so that it would
not need to be watered for two or
three days after spraying. Select any
day when it is not liable to rain within
the next day or two, as heavy rain i'm
mediately following will destroy the
weed-killing power.
Whatever the method used for eradi-
cation Of the dandelion, a fresh sup
ply of blue grass seed scattered on
the lawn each June and September
will surely repay the cost. Care
should be taken to observe that the
seed does not contain a percentage of
dslndelion or plantain seeds.
Tho frsf man who discovered gold