164 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



MILK-WEED. 



Now here is another letter, asking for what some very wise men might 

 think very trifling information. Is it so ? Listen. The writer has set- 

 tled upon the rich land of Wisconsin, and he finds that the common milk- 

 weed (Asclepias Syriaca) is becoming a great farm pest, driving out useful 

 plants, and he wants to know if any one here can tell him how to get rid 

 of, or even partially suppress the nuisance. 



The Chairman. — I know of nothing but much plowing and hoeing to kill 

 that pest. 



Mr. Ambler. — In Connecticut it only grows along fences and rich road- 

 sides. 



Solon Kobinson. — At the west all the land is rich enough to produce it 

 all over the field. 



PEACH BLIGHT. 



Now, here is a letter that given useful information. George Forshew, 

 of Hudson, New York, says that a handful of fine salt, scattered on the 

 ground around a peach-tree in June, has both prevented and cured the 

 peach-tree blight. 



Chairman. — I put several handfuls to a tree about mine, and it killed 

 it. 



Solon Robinson. — That is the error, you put too much. This letter says 

 one handful. Here is another letter of inquiry about 



CONVERTING STRAW INTO MANURE. 



I will read an extract from a letter from Lee county, Illinois, as fol- 

 lows : 



" Thrashing our grain soon after harvest, we have made it our practice to 

 burn the straw each year. But now we wish to reform ; we wish to con- 

 yert it into manure. Thrown into great stacks, it is a long time in rotting. 

 What shall we do to expedite the process 1 Will some one who knows give 

 us information ?" 



For one, I would answer that I would spread the straw upon the surface 

 as a mulch, and let time rot it. But if to be rotted in a pile, the process 

 can be greatly expedited by simply adding a sprinkling of common salt, 

 which will increase the moisture, and consequent decay. So would mixing 

 in with the pile a few loads of prairie soil, particularly that from a slough; 

 and so would any coarse, succulent green herbage. Above all, add all the 

 waste animal matter possible to obtain, and frequently, that is not a hard 

 matter to get around a prairie farm, where cattle die from exposure, and 

 perhaps from want of the straw that has been burned. 



BEEP PLOWING AND WEAK STRAW. 



Here is a letter from Providence, Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, written 

 by James Anderson, who says he is a man of great age and much expei'i- 

 ence. We will see directly what it has profited him. First, he says over- 

 seeding is the cause of weak straw. I say, not always. He says king 



