Audubon County journal., 1911-05-25

Quack grass, like the poor, is some
thing we seem always to have with
us. At least it has seemed that way
to us farmers of northern Iowa. Here
and there you may see fields and
even farms so overrun with quack
grass that they are left idle. Usu-
ally these are rented farms and not
very we'll drained One reads much
of easy ways of killing it out, such
as covering it with tar paper or bury
Ing 1T deep in manure, but when it
is spread in generous spots over
quarter section these methods do not
appeal to me as being exactly applic-
able.
l started farming on quarter sec
ton that was badly infested with
quack grass. Several acres had not
been plowed for years because of it.
Inside of two years we had every
bit of the farm In crops.
The first thing we did was to tile
the fields. There is no use trying
to fight quack grass in soil so wet
plow will not scour If you will
notice, that is where 1t usually starts
On level fields you can oftentimes
trace the sticky places by the
stretches of quack grass.
The tiling took so much of our
time the first summer that all we
could do to the quack grass was to
NOW and burn it and later plow it
up. The next spring war began in
earnest. We chose an 18 acre field
badly spotted with the grass, on
which to begin. 1t was like working
sheep skins with the wool on but we
fitted the field for corn as best we
could. At first a disk would not
touch 1T so we plowed it again, cross
ing the old burrows. This cut the
sod into 16-inch squares, making them
an easier size to ron around than
whole burrows. Then we disked it 80
many times that the horses used to
sigh whenever they even looked that
way. Between diskings we narrowed
1t and shoveled 1t over twice y with
corn plows. AS result of our labors
we raked up and burned several loads
Of the underground stems we usually
call roots. They were so thick we
had to do it because they bothered
the planter so much
After all this work, when we
planted the piece to corn, May %,
the sods were still so plentiful and
SO tough that in the worst places
the planter shoes would not go into
the ground or cover the corn at all.
We followed the planter with the
corn plow in three or four days and
blind plowed the piece Just as the
corn began peeping through we har-
rowed It,
From this time on we plowed the
corn just as in the other fields TAX
ing care to rip out the grass even
If it cost hill now and then. At first
1t seemed as though all this work
only encouraged the grass to do
better. like scratching pigs back.
But as we plowed the corn we no.
ticed the vitality waning. Each time
1t started more slowly and after we
laid the corn by, July 5, the quack
grass had hardly started at all
AS resul of our work, all the
quack grass you could find in the
field last fall was an occasional
bunch in corn hill This spring
We are plowing this field for another
corn crop, expecting to about com
plete the eradication of the weed
this season. 1t took whole lot Of
work but the crop repaid US for that
and the quack is SO nearly killed
that 1t will not interfere with this
years crop at all.
Had we plowed the ground early
the first fall. say August, and then
worked 1t to keep 1t from grow
ing, our work last spring would have
been lessened a whole lot and prob.
ably the Quack grass would have had
less vitality stored up with which to
fight. We are trying several acres
in another field in that manner that
will put In corn this year. This
piece we plowed right after the bar.
ley was taken off last summer.
Our whole method of getting rid
of the pest has been to cultivate 1t
out. know some of our authorities
will hold up their hands In holy hor-
| ror at that statement and tell you
you must smother 1t out, for cultiva.
ton will only spread 1t. Thnt may