274 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



rowed, much of the grass will be killed at once. Ordinarily I ploAv 

 late in the fall or very early in spring, rain or shine, wet or dry, oi' 

 even in June, and cultivate with a shovel-toothed cultivator every three 

 days till the middle of June, or later if starting the work later. Rarely, 

 if the weather be wet and hot, cultivate every two to two and a half 

 days. Keep all green leaves from showing themselves. Do not delay 

 to see green leaves. A harrow that does not cut off the stems below the 

 surface of the ground is not efficient. 



The worst luck I ever had in this work was in summer-fallowing a 

 piece of quack grass during a dry year. A good deal of it remained 

 dormant and grew the following spring. 



One year I tried the application of salt on one side of the bank of 

 a brook where cultivation was very inconvenient. The strip of grass 

 was about four rods long and the slope about five feet. Whenever seen 

 a little at a time two barrels of salt were freely applied for the whole 

 growing season, and the next spring the grass started up in several 

 places ready to continue the fight, which was abandoned on that line. 



For five vears I tried (on the baukw of a brook, or where there were 

 only small patches) the following scheme, with great satisfaction: 



During the wet and growing part of a summer 1 put on tarred building 

 paper, taking care to have it overlap and completely exclude every ray 

 of light. Six weeks to two months is enough, possibly four to five weeks, 

 if the weather is hot aud wet. 



Very likely the reader will think this method costly and will hesitate 

 and dally aJong, giving the grass a good chance to extend its domain. 

 It is not worth while to plow deep or rake out the rootstocks. It is 

 much better to be thorough in spring during a growing time than dur- 

 ing a drouth. I mean that it can be subdued faster in wet weather 

 than in dry. When very dry the underground stems remain dormant. 

 Of course, small patches can be dug over with a hoe. 



Where one is neat and thorough he may prefer to take two or three 

 years in the extermination, growing two or three crops of corn in succes- 

 sion. 



With all the talk about the importance of sowing clean seeds, the 

 killing of weeds by a rotation of crops, the value of plow, cultivation, 

 harrow, mower, rake, hoe, spade, urgent appeals come from the man 

 whose field of oats is yellow with the fiowers of mustard or whose lawn 

 is yellow with dandelions. 



He seeks information regarding 



THE SPRAYING WITH CHEMICALS. 



In the absence of long continued and thorough experiments at this 

 college in spraying weeds, I quote from bulletin 80, 1908, of the Experi- 

 ment Station, North Dakota, where Professor H. L. Bolley began this 

 kind of work in 1896 continuing ever since for fourteen years. After 

 all, he "Is not over sanguine in thi? matter, still the proper handling 

 of spraying machinery and proper spraying at the proper- time gives 

 splendid results in weed destruction without material injury to grow- 

 ing cereals, to grass of the pasture lands or to lawn grasses. 



"In many places it is difiicult to secure good apparatus at reasonable 

 prices. Again, it is difficult to convince some that the cheap potato 



