The Washington times., 1921-10-29
.PUNCTUREP[ANT
MOTORING bAME
IN CALIFORNIA
Weed More Prolific in FIatten-
ing Tires Than Boy With
Box of Tacks.

Even Dame Nature is working lndi-
rectly to augment the troubles OF the
motorisI and TO facilitate the number
of punctures-one of the maximum
bugaboos Of transcontinental touring
--as she fosters and favors the propa-
| CATION OF the puncture plant, accli-
mated in Arizona and California, and
which is as prolific in producing flat
tires as a group OF mischievous ur-
chins armed with a dozen boxes Of
tscks, says George II. Dacy, in Ameri.
can Motorist.
One tourist affirms that recently,
during the course OF few hours
drive through the region where the
puncture plant-known technically as
tribulus terrestris and as awesome in
tire breakdown achievements as its
name-prevails, he had seventy pune
lures. You motorists who fret and
fume and make the atmosphere blue
with well-qualified epithets when you
suffer a couple punctures or blow
outs during a single holiday just imag
inc how you would feel If you accumu-
lated seventy punctures in the same
afternoon? Well. anyway, our friend
felt just as indignant and ranted and
rayed, even as you and i would have
done. But, despite his denunciations,
and those Of thousands of other car
owners who have become intimately
acquainted with the puncture plant,
this ravaging rogue continues its OBJ
Jecuonable activities and only a per.
sistent and consistent campaign of
cultivation will eradicate II from the
localities where IL is entrenChed
or late, the u. S. Department of
Agriculture has been conducting an
extensive weed survey during which
Uncle Sam learned all there is 10 know
about the Objectionable puncture plant.
In fact, the description of this terror
of touring emanating from the sections
where the weed prospers are probably
as untaVorable as any records ever
nled In the Government archives. In
Arizona, the weed is called Devils
Bur" 1t produces spiny seeds which
inbed themselves in automobile and
bicycle tires, These spines hide in the
fabric of the tire and prick holes in
the inner tube. The fact that the OBJ
noXious spines are so difficult to find
IN thS casing eXpIa.ns no" IneS can
ranS" 80 rnanv nunCtureS without
being located and removed.
The puncture plant is a native of
southern Europe. Agricultural au-
thorities believe that it was int-o-
duced to this country by means of burs
contained in the fleeces of sheep. Un-
questionably. it was black sheep that
aided the smuggling of this contra
brand weed TO our shores for no self.
respecting members of the wool-mak-
ing family would be accomplices of
such an INSCRIPTIONS criminal The
IrJit Ut the plant--the bur--wnen ma.
1urs. SUldivides into five parts, each
equipped with a pair of spines about
one-quarter of an inch in length
These sections are ultimately scat
tered about on the ground In such a
way that one of the> spines always
points upward ready to penetrate the
first rubber tire that passes that way. !
In some sections of California, it IS
estimated that so per cent of all the
l'cr"'" pun"tDrcs and approximately |
one.third of all the automobile tire |
punctures are caused by this weed.
From the standpoint of the Ameri. |
can motorists, the most serious ma
tional development related to the es.
adjustment of this punCture plant in |
the United States is the rapidity with |
which the plant spreads. Its propa.
cation is aided by the natural elements. !,
such as wind and water, as we'll as
by human agencies. The winds blow
the seeds long distances, the rains,
floods and freshets are just as prolific
IN spreading the area where the plant
grows, while market live stock and
breeding animals carry the seeds and |
burs in their coats and thus effect a
vide distribution Of the seed.
From California and Arizona, the
Duncture plant has already spread to
Arkansas, Texas, Kansas, Nebraska,
Illinois, Indiana and Iowa. The weed
8 an annual plant and can be con.
rolled by repeated cultivation, which
the formation of seed On
recount of its low, spreading habit Of
growth, II IL impossible to control the
)unCture plant along roadsides by
moving as even after being cut. burs
ire liable to form close to the ground
Uncle Sam, at present, is expert.
nenting with various kinds of cheml.
ais such as crude oil and iron sui.
,hate applied as sprays, in his efforts
o evolve a satisfactory roadside meth.
d of eliminating this undesirable plant
which IL SO inimiCal to motoring