49 



may be controlled by the removal of the condition, 

 such as marsh plants, by better drainage. Many 

 perenniats — Canada thistle, horse-nettle and field 

 bindweed — must not be removed by the cutting out of 

 the roots as it only increases the difficulty a;; each 

 separate piece of underground stem will produce new 

 plants. Chemicals would be the best remedy in these 

 cases. Weeds should be cut while in bud and then be 

 burned. Any mature plants should always be burned. 

 To burn w^eeds. they should first be carried to a barren 

 spot so that the burnt ground will not give an un- 

 sightly appearanco to the sodded banks, care being 

 taken that the fire is not allowed to extend to fences 

 or adjoining land. Weeds pulled from the ballasted 

 track, should be put together and carried away and 

 not thrown onto the right of way banks. 



Some railroads that are not parlicular about the 

 neat appearance of their right of way and wish to 

 cut their weeds as cheaply as possible, attach steel 

 cutters to the wings of a snow plow or to special 

 appliances. This is hauled by a locomotive and can 

 clean twenty to twenty-five miles of track a day with 

 four men, two to extend or close the wings and two to 

 raise and lower the cutters at crossings and switches. 



ihe Sheffield weed-cutting hand-car is used ef- 

 fectively on many roads and with five or six men can 

 cut four or five miles per day. Brine, gasoline or oil- 

 burners, and steam jets are among the means ex- 

 perimented with by railroads in this direction. In 

 experiments with electricity on the Illinois Central, a 

 brush 10ft. long and 4 ins. wide was made of fine bare 

 copper wire and suspended from the flat car, so that 

 it would always touch the ground. Another car con- 

 tained an engine, d3'namo, transformers, etc., steam 

 being taken from the locomotive. The cars wei-e 

 run at a speed of five miles an hour and two trips 

 were found sufficient to kill all the vegetation, an ad- 

 vantage of this process being that all the roots were 

 absolutelv killed. The brush was in short sections. 



