1 82 COMMON WEEDS 



young plants should be thoroughly spudded and re- 

 moved from their position to make certain that the 

 roots are severed. 



The Stemless Thistle must be combated by regular 

 spudding as soon as the flower-heads begin to show, 

 no other mechanical means being practicable ; a pinch 

 of sulphate of ammonia or sulphate of copper (blue- 

 stone) may be applied with advantage to the cut sur- 

 face of each plant spudded, one worker spudding and 

 a second applying the powdered material. Both the 

 bluestone and sulphate of ammonia should be applied 

 carefully, and not dropped on the surrounding grass. 

 At the same time manuring should be practised to aid 

 other herbage to crowd out the Thistle. 



In the case of the Creeping Thistle one, or even two 

 cuttings will be insufficient, owing to the extensive 

 creeping root system, the reserves of food stored there 

 serving to produce fresh shoots after repeated cutting. 

 Cutting, therefore, must be repeated from early spring 

 until late summer, giving this pest no chance to pro- 

 duce seed, and exhausting it as much as possible. 

 " Faithful, systematic cutting with the spud or scythe 

 in meadows and pastures throughout two seasons . . . 

 is a sure plan of getting rid of this most troublesome 

 agricultural pest." * 



Cotton Thistle (Onopordon Acanthium L.), known also 

 as the Scotch Thistle, is a stout, tall, hoary, or 

 " cottony " plant, with branched stem, wavy divided 

 leaves, and many large, roundish, " cobwebby " heads 

 of pale purple flowers, which appear in July to Sep- 

 tember. It is a biennial, and where it occurs should 

 be dealt with in the same way as the Spear and Marsh 

 Thistles (p. 180). 



Butter-bur (Petasites vulgaris Desf.) is a perennial 



1 Leaflet No. 166, Board of Agriculture. 



