THE USE OF THE SPUD. 19 



ennials grow for the most part along roadsides, borders of fields 



and in pastures, as their roots will not withstand thorough culti- 



vation. 



Any method of destroying the root or the top of the plant be- 



fore the seeds ripen will eventually get rid of this class of weeds in 

 cultivated ground. A single mowing which is sufficient 

 for most annuals will, however, not do with biennials, for 

 the thick root will immediately send up new stems. In 

 pastures and other places where cultivation is not prac- 

 ticable, deep cutting below the crown or bud of the root 

 is the best method of getting rid of biennials. This can 

 best be done with a heavy hoe or spud, the latter being a 

 large chisel set on the end of a long handle.* 



PERENNIALS. These are plants which spring up year 

 after year from the same or adjacent root systems. They 

 grow from seeds, creeping underground stems or root- 

 stocks, or from bulbous or tap-roots. When once started 

 they continue in the same spot or spread gradually from 

 it in all directions. Among our worst perennial weeds 

 which spread by rootstocks are the Canada thistle, bind- 

 weed, horse-nettle and couch-grass, while examples of 

 those with ordinary or tap-roots are plantains, curled dock 

 and steelweed. 



Perennials are by far the most troublesome weeds to 

 eradicate and require in some instances the cultivation of 



a special crop to get rid of them. Before attempting to 

 kill out any one of them a careful study of the under- 

 ground portion should be made as, until this is done, effective 

 eradication is impossible. As the leaves, like those of all plants, 

 are the special organs which manufacture and store food in the 

 roots and underground stems, several successive mowings each 

 year will so weaken the roots and stems of many perennials that 

 they will gradually die out. The task of mowing a perennial, such 

 as iron-weed, from a large tract several times each season is at 



*In Canada and some of the northern states the spud is extensively used in effectively getting rid of many 

 weeds, but in Indiana it seems to be almost unknown. "It consists of a light, round handle, resembling that of a 

 broom, and of a blade shaped somewhat like that of a chisel, but more tapering from the end of the blade to the 

 handle on which it is fitted like a common hoe. Its length is about 5 feet from end to end. The blade is about 

 8 inches long, 2% inches broad at the cutting end and %-inch broad at the shoulder. It should be thin, not 

 more than K-inch thick at shoulder and thinning gradually to the cutting edge. In using the spud in a wheat 

 field one walks astride a row of grain and cuts below the surface all noxious weeds within 6 feet on either side 

 thus clearing a strip of 12 feet in width. A small file should always be carried for sharpening the blade. The 

 spud is designed rather to maintain than to secure cleanliness, and is used most effectively to prevent the seeding 

 of scattered winter annual and biennial plants in cultivated fields, along fence-rows and roadsides." Stow, 

 ' Weeds and How to Eradicate Them." 103-105. 



