The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1917-06-25
WASHINGTON COUNTY FARM
BUREAU ASSOCIATION.
Report for Week Ending June %.
Eradication of Witch Grass.

| Eradication of Witch Grass.
| Witch grass is one of the most serious
and most general weed pests on our
| Washington county farms. The county
agent is asked many times for some spe-
ciiic method that will result in the eradi.
cation of the weed. In order to be able
to answer this question with some de-
gree of authority demonstration of
one method of eradication has been in
progress on the farm of the Dodge broth
ers in Berlin. The method pursued in
this case has been as follows: The
grass infested land, which had been in
meadow, was plowed ten inches deep in
the month of August last year. This
plowlng buried the grass roots and left
a good amount of dirt on the top. The
field was narrowed at weekly intervals
until late in September, when it was
sowed with winter rye, with the idea
that the rye would come on this spring
ahead of the grass and would tend to
choke it out. This crop of rye was cut
this last week and run through the blow
er into the silo, to be used later for sum-
mer feed and the field is 10 be disked
and sowed to millet and buckwheat at
once with the idea of smothering the
witch grass further. There was very
little of the grass present at the time
of cutting the rye and we hope that the
further treatment will complete the Grad
ication. This will be followed by eul-
tivated crop, probably corn, next year,
and the progress of the demonstration
will be reported from time to time Ii
the method proves fairly successful, it
will give us a chance to rid the land of |
the weed and at the same time to raise |
good crops of feed on it.
Cultivation.
Properly cultivation begins with the
blowing Flowing and narrowing must
be well done to make the most of the in
tended crop. Subsequent cultivation will
not make up for poor blowing and mad
equate blowing. The yield of nearly all
crops can be materially increased by in
telligent cultivation Cultivation serves
two main purposes. 1t kills weeds and
,onserves moisture. The latter is rath-
ar the more important and if done prop
srly the former will be incidently taken
ARE of. In the case of corn, beans, po
,atoes and late crops, the first cultiva
lion should be made with the smooth
ng harrow within week after the
planting of the seed. This will level the
burrows left by the planter and
will kill whatever weeds may have start
ID. In the case of corn and potatoes,
his narrowing (once in place and sub
a weeder for the harrow
.hould be kept up at intervals of week
o ten days for the same purpose until
he crops are too high for the weeder
when the weeder should be replaced by
he two horse one row eultivator, and the
kept up as often as before.
t is mistake to begin eultivating too
hallow, and then changing to deeper
cultivation, as this deeper cultivation
will bring more weeds TO the surface and
.llow them to sprout. The first culti-
alton should be the deepest and the fol-
owing ones more shallow or maintained
t the same depth. This is especially
rue in the case of the corn crop, whose
DOT systems fill the whole soil with
et-work of fine rootlets, that must not
e broken off. These rootlets will come
s near to the surface as the cultivator
uns, and in order TO preserve them the
ater cultivation must be no deeper than
he first.
The important part of the cultivation,
hat of conserving the moisture, is ac- ,
emphasized by establishing a layer Of ,
between the earth and the I
eat of the sun. The Insulation" is
iade by forming the dust mulch" with
he cultivator. The crops must take their ,
Tater from the soil, and to this end the
oil acts like a wick. bringing the wat
r from the soil below up to the roots.
he sun and its heat cause a tremen-
Gus amount of evaporation both through
he plants and directly from the sur
ice of the soil. 1t is this evaporation
rom the soil surface that must be him
cred, in order that the plants may have
Il possible benefit of the soil water. This
Ill wtaer also contains the plant food
solution and they are lost in the evap- q
ration of the soil water from the sur .
ice. 1t may be said that the good farm /,
: knows when to cultivate, but on the
verage we do not cultivate anough. OF :,
,urse we cannot cultivate when the !.
round is wet, but we should get at it
soon as possible after rain in order |.
re.establish the mulch. I
F. II, Abbott. I