The Bourbon news. [volume] (Paris, Ky.) 1895-19??, 1912-06-18
Dodder in Clover.

Airport from the Kentucky Exper-
iment Station is that: One CT tbs
most destructive weeds found in Ken
tucky,is a'smalI twining yellow CT red
fish plant which chambers over iJvei
md alfalfa. securing itself these
plants and robbing them of their sap.
1t comes ON a minute brownish-gray
;eed, looking like a particle CT dirt,
which terminates exactly like the seed
IF clover. but after coming Up gets its
lold on the soil and fastens upon other
plants. The love-vine is related
species. but is commonly found on
plants Of little value. growing en- wet
land
These plants have no true leaves and
are not weeds.in the proper sense. bu'
parasites, deriving all their nourish-
ment from plants of other sorts. The
er-inifesting SPECIES becomes eX
tremely destructive at times. and some
| times damages planting SO severely
as to compel the owner to pillow it UP.
Fortunately, it does not attack most
other plants and hence, even if soil be-
comes thickly sown with It's seeds, il
will still produce crops of other sorts.
Yet it is sometime source of less and
annoyance to the farmer to give up
tract of land for clover, or alfalfa. be-
cause of the presence of the seeds of
dcdder in the soil, and the question
is often asked; "What can | do to get
rid of it?"
Very little can be done once soil is
thickly sown with the seeds except
usirg the land for other crops not sub
ject to attack and waiting until the
seeds have lost their vitality. Just
how long this will be necessary has not
been determined but it would ! r ,bably
be good many years judging by what
we know of the persistence OF other
seeds.
1t is a matter of the utmost import.
ance therefore to prevent land becom
ing infested with the pest and here
something can be done. The seeds
have been sown in large numbers in
Kentucky With clover and alfalfa seed
Our work of inspecting the field seeds
sold in the market showed originally
that large proportion of both the
clover and alfalfa seeds contained
dodder seeds. At one time screenings
containing ddodder and otehr weed
seeds were imported to this country
from Europe and were mixed with the
SEEDS. sold to our farmers. This fact
accounts for the general presence of
dodder:seeds amongiclover and alfalfa
seeds when we began Jour work. The
pest was about that time so thickly
sown over the State that at present one
is liable to find its seeds in any home-
grown clover or alfalfa seed offered for
SALE To avoid sowing the seeds far
merssshould. first acquaint themselves
with their appearance and to do this it
is only necessary TO buy tripod mag
nifer costing about fifty cents, spread
sample OF. clover or alfalfa seeds on
sheet of white paper and separate all
foreign seeds. Uodder seeds NAV be
Recognized by the fact that they are
smaller than the average we'll matured
! clover and alfalfa seeds, measuring but
about 0.04 inch in diameter, whereas
good clover seed should measure about
! 0.07 inch in length, 'and alfalfa 0.08 or
0.09 inch. Seeds of the pest are near
ly spherical, though sometimes slightly
angledsowing..to the pressure of the
seed against another in the seed cap
sule The surface is dull and smooth,
the color. pale gray, or light brownish
gray. Seeds of the field dodder Or love
vine, sometimes found with clover
seeds average a little larger than clo-
yer dodder seeds and thus are not so
easily SCREENED out with the selves used
by seedsmen. Standard selves are in
use, however. that will remove most,
or all clover dodder seeds, and the
presence of this doddel seed in samples
/ is to be looked upon as cOndemning the
stock from which it was taken. No
man working for the good of the agri-
culture of his country will knowingly
put such seeds On the market.
} When farmers or seedsmen are I'M
able to decide for themselves about
! the presence of dodder seeds, samples
! should be sent to the Experiment
! Station at Lexington. where they will
/ be examined free of charge.
Farmers can help greatly in reduc-
! ing the injuries of dodder, not only by
refusing to buy field seeds in which
are dodder seeds. but by refraning
from harvesting clover seeds of infest-
ed fields. When dodder is prevalent in
clover or alaflfa it is sometimes wise
to cut the crop before the dodder seeds
are ripe. or else plow the whole growth
under and put the la nd in some other
crop. A few patches of dodder in a
| field may sometimes be completely
! eradicated by using crude carbolic acid
! freely. This kills plants of all sorts
| for time. but in one instance of
slight infestation it was made use of
| to accomplish the purpose very
effectively on the Experiment Farm.