THE MONTHLY BULLETIN. 44)5 



Ouc public spirited citizen of Mete has come to know what the Russian thistle 

 means, and it is largely due to his watchfulness and unselfishness that the road 

 from Soledad to King City is free from Russian thistle. He knows the pest and 

 when he sees one he gets down from his wagon and eradicates it. Would there 

 wen- more like him. In contrast with our friend from Mete, let us cite a friend 

 from a near-by community who cultivated a field of peas quite thoroughly and left 

 a dozen fine specimens of Russian thistle to blow, when mature, over an unprotected 



area. Again, a considerable area cultivated to beans this season, quite fi from 



id her weeds, presented a hundred or more thrifty plants of our pest to re-seed the 

 wry field, for the cleaning up of which beans had been planted. 



This brings us to one of the most difficult problems in weed eradication, namely. 

 that of getting uniform care from all parties. One man is careful and 

 painstaking while his neighbor is shiftless and allows weeds to grow which 

 continually re-S 1 the clean land. 



Large estates are leased to tenants, whese leases usually specify control of 

 noxious weeds but whose landlords wish the stubble for pasture and object to 

 plowing. Hand labor is out of the question and when the tenant starts plowing 

 w.eds have matured and spread their seeds. 



Eradication of Russian thistle requires recognition of the plant as seedling and 

 in its various mature forms. The bright green, long-leaved seedlings, if stunted from 

 lack of moisture, may bloom and develop seeds when but a few inches high and 

 inquire close observation for detection. Where conditions favor, the seedlings develop 

 into delicate branching plants of beautiful green, readily eaten by stock; but as 

 blooming time approaches, the narrow green leaves wither, the spiny bracts develop, 

 and the small pinkish blossoms (less than a quarter of an inch in diameter) appear. 

 When not crowded and conditions favor, plants develop into a flattened globular 

 shape, often four feet in diameter, three feet high, and producing many thousand 

 seeds which are scattered as the mature plants, after breaking loose from the 

 ground, go rolling and tumbling before the wind. 



As Russian thistle is an annual, cutting before seeds are mature settles the 

 matter; but all roots must be cut. as a single root uncut enables its plant to mature 

 many seeds. For this reason, fields plowed to kill this pest must be watched and 

 all plants retaining vitality must be lifted and their root connections broken. 



Along river washes where drifting plants are caught by weed or brush thickets, 

 the plants can not blow about and almost invariably increase in such places is 

 small. 



Under our eradication law. much has been accomplished as a result of t lie 

 campaign of education that had to be initiated, and this has awakened a very 

 general knowledge of many weeds as well as of Russian thistle. There has 

 developed a very strong appreciation of the duties of citizenship in relation to clean 

 fields and clean roads. Large areas have been cleared of minor infestation, and are 

 k"pt clear despite land and sea breezes, the sandblow, and the river wash. However, 

 the human factor needs further training. 



As in many other undertakings, cooperation is the watchword of success, so in 

 our Russian thistle campaign there must be no let-up at county lines. Adjacent 

 counties must deal justly by each other; stream basins must be cleared at their 

 heads; large estate holders must realize that their greater measure of protection 

 calls in justice for a greater measure of responsibility to overcome the pest, and 

 even the small holder must "do his bit" intelligently and fairly. State agencies 

 should cooperate. Its representatives related to agriculture, including farm extension 

 workers, farm advisers, agricultural teachers in high schools, and all rural teachers 

 should assist in spreading recognition of weed pests as well as need and methods of 

 control. 



