Oxford Democrat., 1911-08-01
A Book About Weeds.

L. 81. Pammel of the Iowa College in bis
treatise on weeds Of the Farm and
Garden" Weeds arc plants that farm
ers don't wish to grow, but that they
certainly should know, and this book is
especially designed to meet the needs OF
the farmer east Of the Missouri River,
devoting its chief attention to the COM
mon weeds of this section.
The cost of weeds to the farmer every
year has been estimated to amount TO
q hundred million dollars. Probably
this is an exaggeration. II the weeds
didn't do the damage something else
would. Prof. Pammel thinks from some
experiments of his own that their IN
jury to the corn crop of Iowa alone
amounts to $1,000, 900 or SO, ,OOO, 600 ever!
wear. Now it is possible that this
80, ,00O,0 like the 500, 0,000,0 900, is not
convertible into cash; but We venture t.
assert that any farmer can collect his
share Of it, who will vigorously suppress
the weeds on his farm. Quite prize.
isn't it, even on q small farm? A direct
reward of labor, tOO-no question OF
price fluctuations or market opportunl-
ty. The good farmer has been fighting
weeds since the dawn of history, and has
found his account In it; but, like the
poor, they stay with US and will until
the end of the world. A man of science
can breed better grain, but to exter-
inmate weeds it is necessary to breed
better men.
Weeds are injurious because they eat
the children's bread. They are perfect
ly good in their places, and some are
even beautiful. An artist would admire
the fields of daisies and buttercups we
saw tho other day not ten miles from
Albany. He would doubtless say, "Lei
them stay; they add to the picturesque
ness of the landscape" But there il
nothing in them for the farmer, who is
not engaged in growing scenery. Dan
delions also are beautiful, and city peo-
pie call wild carrots queens lace and ad-
mire the orange hswkweed. Farmers
have been heard to say a
good word for French weed and wild
mustard. Some weeds have even been
dignified by admission to the circle OF
useful plants. Foxglove yields digitalis;
henbane, hyoscyamine; jimson weed,
chicory often finds its way into
coffee, and dandslion leaves make o
wholesome salad. The trouble with
but that they are too vigorous.
Their unbounded energy makes them
enemies.
1t is a question of energy rather than
length of life. Weeds are annual, BIZ
ennial and perennial; they reproduce by
seeds. by roots. by bulblets; they are
dispersed by wind, water, snimals, man.
The point is that they get there, and
that they make it very hard for anything
else to stay. They are not particular
how they travel. Sometimes they arrive
in consignment of nursery stock; wool
often carries them, manure still more
The yellow sorrel explodes,
the outer coat of the seed separating and
the seed being forced out of the pod like
shot from pop-gup. The needle-grass
creeps, dandelions and thistles fly, and so
on. One way or another they swarm
across the continent, many having come
from Europe and spread from the Atlantic
to the Pacific. Annual weeds seem to
have a better chance to adapt them
selves than perennial. at is remark
able" says Prof. Pammsl, chow rapidly
European weeds have spread in parts of
South America. In the neighborhood
of Buenos Ayres are to be found bur
clover, its allies, and composite which
has also become noted az pest in Cali
fornia; Cynara cardunculus covers the
pampas for miles. The European
grasses, like the perennial rye-grass,
squirrel grass and other wild barleys
have rapidly taken the place of the ma
tive grasses. The interesting observa-
ton has been made in South America
and Australia that indigenous (native)
plants have beer crowded out BY closely
related European Species" Weeds have
followed the pathway of commerce
about the world. The Crusaders
brought several from Asia to Europe,
such as the horse radish, mustard or
charlock and hemp; and they have &C
the march Of civilization like
rats and other parasites. Europe has
also been paid back in kind. Orange
hawkweed was introduced as garden
flower in 1918, escaped from cultivation
and became a weed between 1860 and
1875, and has been sowing wild oats ever
since.
Prof. Pammel wisely devotes much
space to the determination OF weeds,
giving treatment for number Of spe-
cial sorts, and bis descriptions Of the
more common varieties will be found
valuable.