Abbeville progress. (Abbeville, Vermilion Parish, La.) 1913-1944, 1914-06-06
PUT SALT ON WEEDS
Pinch of 1t viii Kill the Trouble
some DandeIlOn.
Department of Agriculture Gives Prac-
tical Methods for Killing Oande-
lions and Plantains That Rum
the Appearance of Lawns.

NashingtUu.-The best way 10 Kill
individual daudelion plants is 10 cut
on their tops and put pinch OF salt
labOuJ a thlmbleIuJ on the surface OF
eacu exposed root. This Will Kill most
Vi them. As salt, II generally applied
ruins soil. the salt should be useu spar
Iugly and applied only TO The root
tops OF the daudelUu. The United
States department of agriculture has
Tor some time been testing various
pClsuns 10 discover the most efficient
means of Graduating this troublesome
weed from lawns, but although others
have been found satisfactory, the com
mon salt is best Tor general use is
there is no danger accompanying It's
application.
The departments specialists say
that much effort is wasted IL merely
cutting of the dandeuon top without
applying some poison TO the root that
remains The dandeliOu has tap root
that grows deep into the soil and cut
ting off the plant merely encourages
the dandeliOu to come up III thicker
growth.
The time to eradicate dandeHOns Is
i'll the spring before the plant has had
time to form seed. The seed spreads
rapidly. blown by the wind. The bios
SONS should be close mOwn before
they have gone to seed and salt should
then be applied TO each root. A man
may be very diligent in caring Tor
his own lawn and yet have seeds
blown in from neighboring lawns. This
is OF such Importance TO those deslr-
ing fine lawns, that it might be made
a matter for community action.
If the lawn is very full OF this
weed it is too tedious a process to
treat each plant by the salt process.
In this case two possible methods or
eradication may be recommended. The
first method is to thicken the stand
of grass to tend TO crowd out the
dandelion. The grass should be put
into a vigorous condition by top dress
ing with well-rotted manure or ferul-
izer in the fall, and by reseeding IN
thin places The second method. al
yised in extreme instances, is 10 start
all over again. Pillow up the lawn nrst
(or spade it up if the area is smal).
A generous amount of well-rotted
manure should then be worked into
the soil. but not fresh manure Tor
that is full of weed seeds ready 10
terminate. In case manure Is not
available, commercial fertilizers may
be used. Many lawn soils are in need
of lime and it is often a wise plan
TO use it, especially if white clover
/ is to be sown. After blowing, the
/ land should be narrowed or raked ire
/ ouently TO reduce it to a good seed bed
| condition. This will encourage the
/ early termination of weed seeds Win
/ the subsequent determination or the
seedlings. Thorough cultivation at
this period will destroy the dandellon
| plants, both those that come from
roots and seeds. After following
/ either of the two plans sketched mere,
/ the lawn should be maintained IN
good condition by careful moving
rolling and watering.
The dandelion is not native Ameri-
can plant, having been introduced
from Europe several centuries ago.
II was first introduced in the east and
has spread westward with our emigra-
ton.
The name "dandelion" is said to
come from the French Dent de Lion.
which means tooth of lion and refers
to the tooth-shaped edges OF the leaf
of the plant.
The dandelion Is widely used
throughout Europe as truck crop
Certain foreigners recently arrived In
America have continued to use the
plant as a vegetable and Italians in
the neighborhood of large cities have
made considerable profit by gathering
and taking it to market.
Another weed that Injuries the beau
ty of many lawns is the plantain, Of
which there are two varieties; the
buckhorn. or rib grass; and the com
mon. or broad leaf.
The same methods that apply to
graduating the dandelion apply to the
plantain except the method of poison
ing the individual plant. Instead OF
cutting off the top and sprlnkllng the
root with salt as is done in the case
of the dandelion, the individual plan
tain may best be removed by pulling
up by the root after a heavy rain
when the ground is wet. The plan
tain does not offer a difficult prob
lem as the roots are pulled up readily,
even from clay soil, after a heavy
rain.