276 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



Wm. P. Gates write from Windham, Coun., that he extirpated the 

 thistles by plowing, planting corn, and careful hoeing for three years, and 

 then sowing the land to oats and grass. 



E. Marks of Camillus, N. Y., writes to the same effect. He says if you 

 will prevent the growth of leaves the plant must die : 



" Large patches may be destx'oyed by thoroughly plowing as often as the 

 plant appears above the turface. Small and scattered patches may be 

 killed with the hoe. With the plow I have killed many acres of ' simon 

 pure' Canada thistles and quack grass." 



QUACK GRASS. 



T. AV. Field. — I have a little story to tell about quack grass. In filling 

 in a hollow, I hurried quack grass several feet deep, and it lay hurried five 

 years, when I dug up a portion of the ground and found the roots alive 

 and ready to grow as soon as exposed to the atmosphere. 



Adrian Bergen. — By plowing and hoeing continually, we may extirpate 

 and keep down weeds, there is no other way. We have a great variety of 

 weeds on Long Island, and I don't know where we get them, except it is 

 from city manures. We are compelled to keep stirring our land to keep 

 them under conti-ol. 



T. W. Field. — If the land is stony, so that the plow cannot move them, 

 it is nearly impossible to kill Canada thistles by the plow. If the top is 

 kept cut, it will not always kill the root. But, if left till nearly ripe, and 

 then cut at a time when rain happens to follow, the most of them will die. 



Mr, Gore, of New Jersey, said that he had succeeded in extirpating 

 Canada thistles by cutting them in August, and following it up the next 

 year. 



Wm. Lawton spoke of the value of the common thistle in the compost 

 heap. I am very glad that this question was, in a measure, unintention- 

 ally brought up, since it has elicited so much valuable information. 



QUANTITY OF HAY PER ACRE 

 Solon Robinson. — I hold a letter from Charles Taylor, of Wilmington, 

 Vt., who wants to know "What is the greatest number of tons of hay 

 that has been raised on one acre of land in England during one year ? and 

 what kind of hay was it?" Perhaps the Chairman or some other person 

 here will give him and the rest of mankind an answer. 



Robert L. Pell. — It has been published thft, upon the Earl of Derby's 

 land, a field of 100 acres was watered by liquid manure, by a steam-engine 

 and pipes, and a hydrant and hose to each ten acres, and this land was 

 mowed seven times, and gave upon one acre 100 tons weight of grass, and 

 estimated an average of 75 tons upon each acres. The meadows near 

 Edinburgh, watered with sewage water, grew 14 feet of grass a year, which 

 cut at several times, weighed 80 tons. In Ayrshire, similar treatment of 

 forty acres of land has enabled its owner to feed 100 cows. 



Prof. Nash. — I have seen two farms in England conducted on this prin- 

 ciple. Mr. Mechi's farm is 175 acres, with a hydrant at each 11 acres, 



