The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1910-06-10
DANDELTONS.

The Duluth Herald finds that dande-
lions are becoming a great menace to
the lawns of the zenith city. They
have been in Fargo for years and are
getting worse annually. Much that
The Herald says in the following is
applicable to this city:
The time is coming, If it is not al
eady arrived, when this town will
Rave to make a concerted and organic
ed attack upon the dandelions or bid
good-by to all hope OF velvet lawns:
1t will be no easy task but the long
er it is postponed the harder it will be.
1t will have to be concerted and or
ganized to be effective. There isn't
much use in one mans toiling to kill
the dandelions on his lawn when his
neighbor neglects his duty in that re-
spect. The dandelion is cunningly
equipped with means OF self-propoga-
ton. Its seed is supplied with deli
cate parachute by which the winds
watt it gently over from the lawn of
the neglected man to the lawn of the
man who sweats and tolls and wor-
ries TO keep his ground slightly and
green. Its yellow heads are quickly
wind-fertilized, and turn from yellow
to white very rapidly, producing an
enormous crop Of seeds, so that If
dandelion seeds were marketable
commodity anybody could get rich on
few square feet of ground by rails
ing them. Only in all probability if
dandeliOns were a marketable crop
they would cease to grow so bounti-
fully and would need careful nursing.
The dandelion pest seems worse this
year than it ever was before. Most of
it's fellow composites wait until late
summer or fall; but the dandelion
starts business at the earliest possible
moment of the spring. and has a crop
of seed ready for distribution before
most other flowers are ready to bios
som. 1t started earlier than usual in
Duluth this year, and now every neg
lected spot is pond Of yellow bloom,
which quickly turns to white as the
seeds mature, to give way to another
| crop of blossoms which in turn pro-
duces seeds.
Every neglected lawn Or vacant lot
| is a center Of seed distribution. and
not even the man who spends half his
time grubbing dandelions can keep his
lawn clear of them. Left to themselves
they destroy the turf, drive out the
grass, and turn smooth and velvety
lawn to a rough and unlovely surface
in short time.
| The dandelion has beauty, and that
is why beauty loving Duluth woman
many years ago, brought some of the
seeds here from the east-for that and
for green's" it is said But while
there is beauty in a few dandelions
they refuse to remain few, and today
they form scourge which threatens
the beauty of the city, and that must
be destroyed before Duluth can hope
to realize its possibilities of loneliness
1t is stated that the people OF Fort
Collins, Colo, have exterminated the
ldandelion by spraying their lawns witt
a 20 per cent solution of iron sulphate
That is worth looking into. 1t is sale
that the spray kills weeds and dande.
lions without injuring the grass i
sounds we'll and somebody SHOULD
try it.
But there must be a general con.
certed attack all along the line t
make the campaign against dandelion.
lsuECeSslul. IL must lHcluu6 not SOILS
! of the lawns, but all of them, and no
the lawns alone, but the vacant lots al
well. 1t will be heruclean task, blu
. unless the city is willing to let thi
yellow plague gain complete contro
: lit is task that will have to b
taken up.
The Herald would be interested Il
hear from anybody who can offer help
full ideas about how the fight shoul,
be conducted