Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1915-06-17
WEEDS-A LUXURY.
They Are Not Only Cnsightly. but De-
structiNe.

"A neighbor Of ours" wrote a friend
able COW from eating poisonous weeds
While in the pasture" such an accident
is unfortunately only a hint of the many
other mishaps occurring continually from
Carelessness Of the same kind and when
to the long list is also added loss If
, crops due to weeds. the great los in
land values. etc. is it possible the av-
erage man who spends at least part Of
his energy. time, and money outdoors.
fails to realize that the annual aggregate
runs up into hundreds oe millions of dol
lars? In passing along the shaded high
ways it would appear as though few,
indeed, make much of an effort To- rid
the soil of weeds. and as a matter Of
fact. those who should know are fro
quently unable to distinguish ruinou
weeds from valuable plants 1t stands to-
reason. however, that only those ahie tn
to get rid of them
Now, ON general principles, weeds COM
ing up in lawns and gardens can bo
tald at a glance excepting, perhaps
quack. crab, harnyard. and Johnson
bling any Of the grasses is noted in
| lawn or pastures it is safe to have it
pulled out at once Weeds are exceed
| ingly harmful for various reasons They
mature seeds very rapidly. and, being
vigorous and usty, produce them in
vast quantities They are persistent, and
frequently choke out their less hardy
neighbors. whether such he veeeta bles,
also take up moisture needed by crops.
and in some cases give off substances
very poisonous to the crops. There are
also large numbers of weeds known as
vines and Creepers. such as English
| bindweed, morning glory, wild buck
wheat, purslane field dodder, etc.
which highly injurious weeds wrap them
selves around the nearest plant ana even
tually choke it to death Weeds also
make the harvesting and curing of crops
doubly difficult; among the most trouble
some in this respect are the Russian
and Canada thistle, bndweed, wild mus
tard dodder, and wild onion. Wheat.
| for instance containing wid-oniou bulb
let's is sometimes docked as much as
| 90 per cent. and in some cases is quite
| unstable. In addition to the damage al
| ready mentioned there are many poison
Gus weeds and others harboring fungous
and insect pests Among the former are
! poisoned ivy, sumaC, Jimson weed corn
cookie, cowbsne, water-parsnip. and loco
weed. Wild onion and bitterweed spoil
thousand Of dollars worth of dairy
products annually, and are the curse of
many dairymen in various parts of
| PENNSYLVANIA.
| However, If taken in time weeds
should not he difficult To keep in subiec-
ton, but ii is ccaseless labor from
| spring until frost In this work of
eradicatinR weeds Cooperation would
prove Invaluable, but unfortunately too
many landowners seem averse To work
ing in harmony. AS "A sad illustration
Of which fields upon fields of wild car
rot bear striking testimony, In New
York State, where there is law against
allowing this miserable weed to GO to
| seed it Is seen waving In white billowy
masses from June till snow flies Let
1t. then. he borne in mind that the hoe
and cultivator are the invetcrate and
successful enemies Of weeds and only
by their diligent and invariahle use can
the land be kept free and clean as II
should be