Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1911-05-31
CURE FOR DANDELION PEST.
Agricultural Experts Discover
Treatment That Will
Work.

Eradication of the dandelion with
its tendency to become ubiquitous
to the ruination of lawns once
smooth and green and to the despair
of persons who try to eliminate the
pest by hand, is promised through
sure and easy methods by Prof. A.
D. Wilson of the university farm
school, r. w. Fisher, horticulturist
at the agricultural college at Boze-
man, Mont, and Prof. H. l.. Bolley
of the North Dakota agricultural col
lege, following experiments with So
lutions of sulphate of iron or copper
Sprayed with the right solution the
dandelions promptly shrivel up and
die, and a general use of the solu-
ton, it is said, will mean solution
of the dandelion problem.
Getting the dandelion in hand by
the use of knife to dig the plants
up singly by the roots is discourage
ing process, and usually by the time
part of the crop has been out of the
way the rest has gone to seed, and
the white fluffy balls SOW a bigger
crop than ever with the first strong
breeze.
With the sulphate solution the
plants not only are nipped in the
bud, but seem to evaporate into thin
air. The grass, which is bound to
be killed eventually by the inroads
of the dandelion, is not harmed by
the use of the solution.
Directions for killing the dande-
lions given out by farm school pro-
fessors read in part as follows: "The
iron sulphate, or copper as it is COM
monty known, can be purchased for
few cents a pound in quantity, and
is used at rate of 1 1-2 to 2 pounds
to one gallon of water. The solu-
ton should be applied soon after the
iron sulphate is dissolved, as there
is a chemical reaction which takes
place soon after it is dissolved, and
If left standing too long it lessons its
power to kill the dandelions. 1t
should not stand more than three or
four hours. The solution is not poi
sonous to handle, but will discolor
iron, stone and clothing, and reason
able care should be taken in apply
i i'm q xtyhn
iron fences and stone foundations
and walks.
when the spray solution is prop
erly made and applied, the dande-
lions can be killed without injury to
blue grass or white clover, except
that the leaves of the clover may be
spotted for a time, rarely enough,
however, to disfigure the lawn. BY
keeping the lawn closely cut and
well watered it will quickly recover
from any injury. The spaces where
dandelions are killed should be seed
ed at once with blue grass seed to
| I'LL up the vacant ground and pre-
vent weeds from terminating The
solution should be strained through
a fine sieve or cloth into the spray
can so that no material can get into
the pump to clog it up"
AS a result of the experiments it
has been found that it is impossible
| for the dandelion roots to live more
than one season without green
leaves, and spraying about once in
six weeks or whenever the leaves
start to grow will eliminate the pest
in season.
THE solution cannot be success
fully applied with a sprinkling can,"
according to the agricultural school
bulletins, las the large drops will
not stay on the leaves. Spraying
should be done when the wind is
not blowing and when the sky is
partly cloudy. The lawn should be
well watered several hours before
the solution Is applied, so that the
grass can dry, but the roots will be
moist enough to go a day or two
without moisture to give the spray
solution time to do its work"
Solutions of various strengths
have been used to kill Canada this
ties, wild mustard and other weeds.