Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1922-04-05
ERADICATION OF
THE SOW.THISTLE
r.. s. Durham, Northwest School Ag-
economist, Offers Advice. Con
tinuous Fight Necessary

NO .naI-Way measures Will succeed
in the fight against the SOW thistle ac-
cording to r. S. Durham, agronomist
at the Northwest School and Station,
Crookston. The battle must be re-
lentless and continuous for SOW this
tie does not succumb to intermittent
attacks. 1t has as many lives. as
there are new plants from its root
stocks. Ten have been found on
single running root. -
The important facts about this plant
to be recognized in waging fight to
death are, first, that it is propagated
both by seed and by underground root
stocks second, that it is in its weak
est condition when preparing to bios
som, and, third, that it cannot live
without leaves. r.,
OF equal Importance are the two
necessary campaign plans. These con-
sist of, first, complete eradication and,
second, control. AS in all troubles of
life, IAN ounce of prevention is worth
pound of cure" Preventive mea-
sures are necessary: the plant should
not be allowed to produce seed and
only crops seed free from this weed
should be planted. Sow thistle should
be cut as near to blossoming time as
q can be done without danger of allow
ing some plants to mature seed. Since
the blossoms may mature seed after
they are cut at this stage, all plants
should be burned Immediately after
cutting.
Further eradication Of the weed de-
ponds upon killing it's root-stocks.
These can only be killed by prevent
two
leaves of the plant are necessary to
convert the plant food taken up by
the roots into a form that nOurishes
the plant. Without leaves the plant
must die For that reason, following
is essential to complete eradication.
There are three kinds Of fallOw as
practiced by the farmer; the one con-
sists Of blowing with no cultivation,
the second consists of blowing and Oc-
casional cultivation in which new
plants are allowed to produce their
first leaves, and the third consists of
blowing and su--cient cultivation to
keep all leaves from forming "the
black fallow." Only the latter kind
is worth while.
Flowing shallow in the fall or disc
ing will aid the seeds scattered in the
fall to terminate and frosts will kill
them. The following spring the land
should be plowed at the normal depth
and black fallow maintained by cul-
tvation until freeze-up. The plow-
ing should be we'll done. All land
should be cut by the share and loosen
ed by the mouldboard including the
dead furrow. The first two burrows
should be plowed shallow and thrown
out. Later they should be plowed
back at the normal depth. Leave no
unplowed strips in the field or at the
headlands. Cover all weeds.
The make of the cultivator is moi
as important as the type 1t should
have shares that overlap, have sharp
cutting edges, and run level. The
duckfoot type is satisfactory The
disc-harrOw is very unsatisfactory and
the spike-tooth harrow is fairly sat
isfactory if precaution is taken NOT
to drag the roots over the field.
There are several agencies of seed
distribution that cannot be prevented:
Wind, water, and railroads scatter
seeds. For this reason control mea-
sures must be used by the farmer af-
ter his eradication Of the weed Chief
of these are crop rotation and good
cultivation. The rotation should in
Guide a cultivated crop, grass or
legume crop, and a grain crop. Corn
is an excellent cultivated crop and
sweet clover heads the list of legumes.
Winter rye is one Of the best weed
control crops that can be grown be.
cause it ripens before the thistle
blossoms.