163 



profit, the benefits of herd-testing- are hereby emphasized. — Vic- 

 toria (Anstraha) Journal of Agriculture. 



NEW WEED EXTERMINATOR. 



Wild garHc {Allium vinalc) has for many years been a serious 

 pest in that belt of territory which extends from IMaryland to 

 Missouri. Besides having the usual competitive action of a 

 perennial weed, the plant is harmful in that the bulbils on the 

 stem frequently get intermixed with wheat grain and create an 

 objectionable flavor in the flour. As a weed with fodder crops, 

 this plant may have an effect in causing the tainting of milk. 



Considerable attention, therefore, has been directed by the Bo- 

 tanical Department of the Indiana Experiment Station, towards 

 methods for eradicating this noxious weed. A letter in Science, 

 for January 3, 1913, states that remarkable results have been ob- 

 tained by the use of orchard-heating oil as supplied by the Stand- 

 ard Oil Company. It was found that when the oil was distributed 

 over the field in a fine spray by a sufficiently powerful spraying 

 machine, practically all vegetation was killed, not only above 

 ground but below ground as well. It destroyed the bulbs of the 

 wild garlic below ground and the bulbils at the top of the stalks. 

 One or two plants with very large horizontal rootstocks survived, 

 since these required a rather larger dose of oil than was generally 

 applied. 



The application of the oil appeared to have no lasting effects 

 on the soil ; the new growth from seeds already present in the 

 soil and from subsequently sown cereals possessed the usual 

 vigor. 



In considering the trial of this method in the West Indies for 

 exterminating perennial weeds like Devil's grass {Cynodon Dac- 

 tylon) and Nut grass (Cyperus sp.) the following questions arise: 

 (1) Will the oil actually kill the hardy rhizomes and tubers of 

 these weeds? (2) Does the oil possess any injurious effect re- 

 garding the physical and biological characters of the soil? and 

 (3) What would be the cost per acre? — Agricultural Neivs. 



PAPER FROM BAMBOO. 



Paper from the bamboo cane will soon, says the Standard, be of 

 the usual order of thing.s Scottish engineers are mainly respon- 

 sible for bringing about this new departure. Not long ago an 

 Edinburgh firm, who specialize in the making of plant for pro- 

 ducing paper from bamboo, sent out two complete factory equip- 

 ments to the Far East — one to convert cane into pulp, and the 

 other to transform that pulp into fine white paper. 



