Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1916-10-13
BANDIT CROP OF THE FARM

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| BANDIT CROP OF THE FARM
Weeds mean waSte-a waste of time,
money, labor and land. Weeds rob
our crops of light, food and moisture;
occupy land where profitable crops
should be grown; cheaper our farms;
| injure live stock; harbor insects and
| fungus diseases. Weeds are the bandit.
crop of the farm. They knock the cour-
age out of q mans heart, and drive
many of the less determined husband.
men to the cities in search of jobs.
The United States department of
| agriculture estimates the loss to the
American farmer from damage to crops
by weeds, to be more than $3OO,O0OOOO
every year. This is actual money loss,
due to short crops. It does not include
the losses from deprecated property.
If we are to match our wits against the
weed, we must have our heads in the
game. Weeds are with us to stay.
They are right on the job all the time.
The special business of the weed is to
! SCHULTZ lOI ALOCAAS " pea
petuate it's species.
| The weed which is best able to cope
with difficulties is the weed which sur
wives.
Weeds are abundant seeders. A sin
gle plant of shepherds purse may pro-
duce as many as $4,000 seeds; squirrel
tail produces 300 to 1900; plantin may
bear 1900 seeds per plant; foxtail,
from 1000 to 5000 seeds; stinkweed,
| 10000 seeds; the Russian thistle from
100000 to 100000 Seeds, and one mus
tard plant, one and one-haf million
seeds.
Soil Robbers.
Compare these prolific soil robbers
with our food-producing plants.
| Through centuries of time weeds have
become adapted to certain soils and
| climate conditions. In other words their
|Aspecies are fixed. They are hardy vet
Grams able to Withstand the extremes
| of heat and cold, or drouth and Excess
sive moisture without injury.
Our worst weeds are not the species
which were found in this country when
the first settlers came. They had not
learned to adapt themselves to all con-
ditions. Few Of them are here now.
When the forests were cleared the
native weeds being unaccustomed to
| the hot sun, persisted. When the
marshes were drained, the pioneer
weeds disappeared with the water.
When the prairies were cultivated the
prairie weeds fed. They were not bred
to endure the tramp of feet, and when
civilization came bringing with it the
multitudes of men they soon died out
Some of the Bad Weeds.
| But there are other weeds-milk-
weed, smartweed, Spanish needle, mus
tard, peppermint, tansy, poison hem
lock, jimsOn, morning-glory, ragweed.
velvet leaf, purslane, quack grass, wild
garlick, Canada thistle, ox-eye daisy,
bindweed, orange hawkweedsS Johnson
grass, sorrel, wild oats and fifty others
that are common wherever man is.
Most of these have been brought to
us from Europe. More than 600 species
/ OF weeds have been introduced into
i New England since the first cutting of
/ the forests.
/ Weeds are classified as to length Of
i life as:
ANIMALS, those that spring up, grow,
/ produce seed and die the same year.
Examples: Foxtail, -ragweed and
1 SmartWeed.
/ Biennials, those which spring up and
| produce leaf growth one year, live
through the winter, and the next spring
send up stem shoot which flowers
and seeds, usually early, then the plant
dies. Examples: Mullen, bull thistle,
| wild carrot, black-eyed Susan.
Perennials, those whose roots live
from year to year. Familiar examples
| of these are quack grass, milkweed,
horse-nettle and the dandelion.
How Weed Seeds Are Spread.
Weeds seeds are spread chiefly by
man sowing impure seed; by scatter
ing weed seeds in feeding hay, straw,
screenings and in manure; by winds.
| water and snow; by animals and birds !;
| by farm machines and railroads; by
| weeds allowed to flourish in waste
places.
Every weed that is allowed to ma
ture produces hundreds Of thousands.
and even millions of seeds. Having pro-
duced a large quantity of seed, the
next step is to distribute it. And in
this task the weed has many helpers.
First: A large part Of the weed seed
is distributed by the sower who soWs
impure seed. Imported grains and low
grade grass seed contain a large pro-
| portion of weed seeds.
Much of the seed which cannot legal
| Iy be sold in Canada and in European
countries is sent into this country to
states which do not have a pure seed
law. so there is a large possibility OF
imported seed being impure.