El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-10-15


| behind the saddle, where it is COM
/ monty tied Then their horses drop
J the seed in the manure on the laborers
/ land or that of his employe the next
/ day This is a common method of dis
: tribution and can be easily avoided.
If the seed is allowed to form, it
! should be burned
! The bureau of plant industry gives
| three methods of destroying Johnson
grass: by hand labor, field cultiva-
! ton and chemical means. Hand labor
| is only practicable on small areas on
account of its slOwness and expense.
Eradicating it with salt, kerosene,
crude oil, chloride of lime, arsenate or
| lead, electricity and so forth has been
| tried without results that would war
rant recommendation
Freeing Land of Grass.
The writer is in receipt of a letter
from W. c. Crier, of Del Rio, Texas,
| who has been eminently successful in
freeing his land from Johnson grass.
He states that the land had been COW
| cred with the grass for 10 years, when
| he bought it. yet with five plowings
and an equal number of borrowings, he
was able to grow garden truck and
! other crops on the land without hind
/ rarce He pIowed shallow the first
| time. and when the sun had dried the
| roots he narrowed. The next blowing
was at right angles to the first and
! deeper, and in few days the land was
again narrowed. Each successive
blowing was deeper, and every other
time the land was plowed crosswise.
In four or five days after each blowing
| the land was narrowed; and at the end
Of the season with a pair of mules,
pIow and a harrow, he was able to
free the land of pest that to some
farmers seems so well established that
it is time wasted to attempt its re-
movaI
Some Methods Used.
There are number of methods
recommended by the U. S. department
of agriculture that have given success
full results where tried One method
is to fallow the land infested during
the summer, plow and harrow to eX-
pose the roots to the action of the
sun; plow and cultivate in the wintei
to expose the roots to the action OF
the frosts In the fall, the land is
plowed and the roots are turned up
where they may be killed by frost.
When these are killed, the land is
plowed again, preferably crosswise
this time, and again cultivated Some
stems will of course remain, but these
can be removed by hand as soon as
they start in the spring.
Work of Stems.
The mission of the underground
stems is to throw up branches to ths
surface new crowns and plants are
thus formed, which, after blossom1ng
send out new underground stems. If
the top is left uncut the rootstalks
continue to grow and they go down as
deeply as four feet and more. BY cut
ting back the top every time the
heads form, the rootstocks are made
to develop late in the season and they
remain slight and near the surface
Without tops, they become exhausted
and eventually die.
During the summer fallow, the best
time to pillow is when the grass is
making vigorous growth during the
hottest months. The land should be
pIowed only about three inches deep,
not deper than the sun will penetrate
and dry and kill the roots. or else
those underground stems that are cut
by the plow and not reached by the
suns drying effects will be stimu-
lated to increased growth. When the
new growth after the first blowing
has reached a height of about five
inches, the land should be plowec
crosswise and two inches deeper so as
to turn up a new mass of roots. An
irrigation or rain after either OF the
plowings. before the roots have been
killed. is of course disastrous and their
growth is greatly stimulated
Spring Tooth Harrows.
spike or spring tooth harrow, a
common horse cultivator, a root digger,
or grass hoe heel-scrape, or heel
sweep, following the blowing will col
lect the roots and they can be piled
lro &c al "
iceable for bringing the roots together.
Some farmers have in this manner
cleared their fields in year, others
have spent three to five years before
getting their farms entirely clear.
Another way, which has proved
successful in south Texas, is to plow
in the fall with turning or disk plow,
taking care to cut every part of the
soil. The field is then narrowed
thoroughly to get it well pulverized,
and then gone over with some form of
root-digger. such as cultivator or
tooth harrow, first in the direction of
the burrows, then crosSwise. The roots
thus brought to the surface may be
carried into piles and burned or left to
decay In the spring the land is again
plowed and put into some cultivated
crop When the Johnson grass has
grown about six inches high, it is
necessary to go over the Ileid ana
pull out every bunch, taking care to
remove every bit of the root. In this
way especially if the winter wedding
has been thorough the grass may be
removed during the summer season
without excessive labor.
Laws Prohibit Sowing
The following statutes passed in 1895
by the Texas legislature are very good,
but, like many of our laws. are not
enforced because public sentiment has
not been sufficiently aroused to de-
mand their enforcement:
An act TO make it penal offense
for any person of this state to unlaw
fully SOW, scatter, or place on land
not his own the seed or roots Of John
son grass or Russian thistle or will
fully or knowingly sell or give away
hay, straw, cats, or grain containing
or intermixed with seeds or roots of
Johnson grass.
Section l. Be it enacted by the legis-
lature of the state of Texas, that if
any person in this state shall know
ingly, wilfully and with intent to in
jure, sow, scatter, or place on any land
not his own the seed or roots of John