IO6 WEEDS OF THE FARM AND GARDEN 



are brought on and the roots are removed by hand. Then 

 the land is plowed again and the same process gone over 

 with. After this has been done from three to five times 

 the land is practically free from the rootstocks, and the 

 rotation can be run through without serious trouble from 

 quack grass." 



Mr. J. S. Gates, of the office of Farm Management, has 

 made a careful study of quack grass for some years past, 

 and has developed a very much simpler and less ex- 

 pensive method than the above, a method, however, 

 which is not applicable to all situations. Mr. Gates' 

 method is based on the following principles : 



"If the quack grass sod be left undisturbed, as would 

 be the case in a meadow or pasture, for two years, the 

 grass meanwhile being cut for hay or kept down by pas- 

 turing, all of the deep-lying rootstocks decay, and the 

 new ones that form are all within two or two and a half 

 inches of the surface. After this condition has been 

 brought about, if the field is plowed just deep enough to 

 turn up all of the rootstocks, which will usually be two 

 to two and a half inches, the grass is very easy to kill. 

 This plowing should be done in midsummer after haying 

 time. A few harrowings after this shallow plowing com- 

 pletely destroy quack grass unless it happens to be a very 

 wet season, when the roots are kept alive by the moisture. 



"It is of the greatest importance not to plow deeper 

 than necessary in this work. If one plows, say four 

 inches deep, then the rootstocks must be harrowed out 

 from the depth or they will take root and grow again. If 

 the plowing is only two inches deep the frequent harrow- 

 ings keep the rootstocks from connecting with the -sub- 

 soil until they have completely perished. 



"We have found a good many New England farmers 

 who had dropped on to this method of killing quack 

 grass, and they no longer consider it a serious menace." 



Deep Plowing. Another method is to plow the sod at 



