294 LUTHER BURBANK 



The common amaranthus produces an enor- 

 mous amount of small black seeds. It is an 

 annual and is often called careless weed, because 

 it is seldom found in abundance except on land 

 that has been carelessly cultivated. Thousands 

 of seeds are produced by a single plant and they 

 come up during summer and thrive especially 

 well on rich fertilized soils. 



The common amaranthus, however, is almost 

 harmless when compared to the new perennial 

 species which has lately been seen in many public 

 grounds, and is rapidly spreading to farms and 

 gardens. This new weed, unlike the annual, 

 sends down long slender roots deeply into the soil 

 and if cut off, no matter how deeply, will imme- 

 diately sprout with redoubled vigor. 



But this is not the worst. 



Like the annual, its sole object seems to be to 

 produce enormous quantities of seeds. This new 

 pest trails instead of growing upright and begins 

 to produce seed almost as soon as the plants 

 appear above the ground. This seed production 

 is continued perennially as long as the plant lives. 



The only method of destroying this is to cut 

 off the first plants which appear, and apply a 

 small quantity of salt or sulphate of iron on the 

 cut portion of the root, at the same time burning 

 every portion of the plant removed. 



