Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1911-03-17
Ouack Grass.

ten us recently, desiring to know the
best method Of handling quack grass
One has a few small patches he wishes
to kill out. Another has a piece Of
fifteen to twenty acres that is practi'
cally all in quack grass. Another says
that he has thought of handling one
piece by blowing about June lst, and
then disking, re-disking, and disking
again for several days until he got it
thoroughly pulverized and the roots
cut up. Then he would SOW to millet
and as soon as the crop Is taken of
would cultivate as before and SOW 20
rye. The following spring he would
plow the rye under and plant to corn.
He wishes to know if this would be a
successful method of handling a large
piece Of quack grass.
Our readers south Of central Iowa,
need not pay much attention to this
article. In northern Iowa, Minneso-
ia and the Dakotas, however, quack
grass is a vital problem, damaging
the land oftentimeS to the extent of
of fifteen to twenty-five dollars per
acre. Quack grass has the three re-
quisites of a bad weed. 1t is a peren-
NAL dives over year after year,, it
produces abundant seed, and, worst
of all, it has very strong, aggressive
root stalks. 1t is this last point that
makes it so extremity hard to control.
Quack grass is not wholly without
merit, however. Hay made from it
is very nearly equal to that of tim
othy. It is a fair pasture grass, furn-
ishing green leaves from early in the
spring until late in the fall. 1t is a
close relative to wheat grasses, which
are among the most valuable of u
native grasses for the dry northwest.
The good points of quack grass, how
ever, are entirely covered up by its
bad ones.
How to get rid of quack grass is a
question which has been answered in
many ways. Many methods have
proven successful in isolated cases,
but have failed when tried under diff
ferent conditions. Following we give
methods of eradication which have
given satisfaction under varying con-
ditions.
First, we will take up those methods
which have been used to combat the
grass when found only in small, iso-
lated patches. BY small patches, we
mean those less than forty feet
square. The most effective way to
deal with such patches is to dig out
the plant, root and branch. This
must be done not only once, but must
be followed up to see that no stray
sprig escapes. Another way to deal
with small patches is to cut in June,
just about the time the heads appear,
and then cover with a deep layer Of
straw or manure, tar paper or boards.
After these materials have been on
for two or three months, the ground
is plowed deeply. Another way of
dealing with small, isolated patches,
which is less laborious, is to put the
infested land into pastures. In the
spring, seed heavily to clover and tim
othy. Just before the quack grass
heads appear, NOW for hay. Always
NOW before the quack grass heads.
The philosophy of this method is that
quack grass does not thrive in past
ure and that after a few years it is so
weakened that when the pasture is
plowed up it may be easily destroyed
by good cultivation. At best, this is
a makeshift method, and care must
be taken that the pest does
not seed or escape into adjoining
fields.
There are two general methods Of
handling large patches OF quack grass
the summer fallow whereby the
use of the land is lost for a year,, and
the crop-smother method Choking it
out by sowing heavily to some rank
growing CROP. There are two forms
of the fallow method. One is based
upon deep blowing, and the other
on shallow blowing. An example of
the former, and n which we know
has given excellent satisfaction in
Minnesota, is as follows: The grass
is allowed to grow until late June,
when it is moved just when the
heads are appearing. Then the
ground is plowed deep, at least eight
inches, and as fiat a furrow as possi-
BILE is thrown. This deep, fiat plow-
ing is followed by disking and re-disk-
ing; then by cultivating with a corn
and disking and cultivat-
ing some more throughout the entire
season until September. when winter
wheat Is drilled in. The object OF
disking and cultivating is to keep a
perfect dust mulch two or three
inches deep on the surface of the land.
This so conserves the moisture that
the quack grass roots are deep in the
soil, away from air and rot. II this
is thoroughly carried out,
quack grass will be found on the
ground next year. The expense is
from five to ten dollars an acre, as
we'll as the loss of a years crop.
In Canada a shallow blowing
method Is advocated. The grass is
in June just before the heads
j1 Nt,o, ~1o-ol