Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1922-07-21
SOW THISTLE,
NOT SERIOUS
MENACE HERE
Enthusiastic Meeting Held
In Response to Call From
MI Federal Land Bank.

That IN row thistle menace had
. vet reached no serious proportions
and that farmers throughout this sec,
OF the Red River valley, both
In Minnesota and North Dakota are
for the most part successfully nan
ding the problem of eradication, was
the gist Of the testimony offered by
farmers and their representatives az
the morning session OF bankers ana
farmers meeting. which opened ms
morning at 10 o'clock In the CoH-
mercial club DON
The meeting, which continued >ta1e
afternoon, was called by .: q:
Quamme, president Of the Federal
Land bank Of St. Paul, for h pur.
pose of discussing the problems o.
the spread of SOW thistle and meth
DDS for the eradication OF the Thistle.
The morning session was taken up
entirely with reports by county agelns
and farmers regarding the pEeva-
lence Of the weed, it's dangers as a,
cause for abandoning farms, and the
ability of the farmers to cope with the
determination of the noxious weed.
No Serious Menace.
Recent reports of he spread OF
sow thistle and the inability of. some
of the farmers throughout the weed
district to meet payments and inter-
est on loans made through the iarm
loan associations, led to the calling
of this meeting in the interests or
bankers and loan concerns. to inves-
tigate the matter and ascertain the
possibility, in many cases, OF farm
abandonment. The ~concensus OF
opinion, as expressed this morning,
seemed to indicate that the farmers
feel that the SOW thistle is no serious
menace, that steps have already been
taken to cope with the problem, and
that the efforts Of farmers who have
been serious in handling h situation
have met with unqualified success.
The entrance of SOW thistle into
the surrounding farm lands from the
north was termed by many OF the
speakers this morning as a "biess-
ing" and a "God-send,' as 1t has been
the means by which the armers nave
been awakened to the necessity OF
keeping their and rich and free from
weeds. Many of the speakers stated
that it was already an accepted a
that the SOW thistle thrives best IN
poor, underfed soil, n that in the
Fields whose fertility had been pre-
served little SOW thistle could now be
found.
The enthusiastic spirit which charg-
gu & liz w oSSSlC 49,
proved the farmers to be awake to
the dangers of weed infection and In
telligent in their attitude toward the
determination OF the pest. !
Representatives from the follow
ing counties, which are known to be
ones in which the thistle Is most
prevalent, gave short talks before the
meeting and outlined the situation in
their own country: Pembira- Cava
lier, Walsh, Nelson and Grand Forks.
from North Dakota. and Kittson, Mar
shall, Pennington. Red Lake and Polk
counties from Minnesota. Enthus-
Asic representatives from each of
these counties were present to take
part in the discussions.
Spread to South.
The SOW thistle, it was stated this
morning, first entered tn" United
atates from Canada in Pembina coun-
", and 1t Is believed that it made its
appearance IN sections nearly TWEEN
" years ago. For a long time it was
not known what the weed was, and
it, danger was not understood, but
m account of its rapid spread toward
the south, particularly close along
North. attention recently has been de.
voted to this pest. All counties in
North Dakota reported that the east.
ern sections of the counties were mosa
badly infected, and in Minnesota the
western section, along the river, hak
more weeds.
In sections where the fight is being
consistently waged against the weed
It Is practically disappearing, county
ton, putting land to pasture, ano
planting cultivated crops as corn and
potatoes were the methods suggested
for combating the weed. Success!
with black summer fallow was alst
reported. and it was stated again ant
again by farmers that sweet clover
planted on the thistle infested field:
would almost certainly eliminate tn,
weed. Decreasing the grain acreage
and increasing the acreage of corn
potatoes, rye n pasture, must b.
the program followed. if the farm
ers are tt meet this problem, agent!
stated.
Speaking for the Grand Forks coun
ty farmers. in the absence of Count.
Agent D. B. Morris, J.. W: Scott re
iterated the statements made by othe
speakers, in saying that he believed
SOW thistle to be no serious menace
He said that in Grand Forks count,
he had found that the richest an
lively free from the thistle. and tina
In the poor, low, alkali regions. SOY
thistle vas most abundant. The sc
ret to meeting the problem, he SAID
was in proper rotation and constan
cultivation Of the infected districts.
At the afternoon session the meth
DDS OF discriminating the weed. base
on the experiments Of the farmer.
was taken up, and plans to organic
"a movement against the spread Of tn
weed YER outlined. n
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