30 EXPERLAIEXT STATION. [Jan. 



ployed, and is especially valuable for desti-oying weeds in dirt 

 walks, roads, ditches and tennis courts and for killing poison ivy 

 about ti-ees, buildings, stone walls, etc. It is very jwisonous to 

 plants and lasting in its effects. O.ne or two applications at the 

 rate of 10 gallons of the solution per square rod (made u]) of 1 

 pound of the arsenate of soda to 5 or 10 gallons of water) will 

 last for some years. This substance does not appear to leach out 

 of the soil to any extent, while many others used as weed killers 

 either volatilize quickly or leach out through the soil, producing 

 only a temporary effect. Arsenate of soda can be used to ad- 

 vantage also in treating 4 or 5 inches of a lav/n close to the" 

 foundations of buildings, to save clipping by hand the tall 

 grass which cannot be reached with a laM'n mower. 



The most satisfactory way to apply arsenate of soda is by 

 means of a sprinkler with an attachment to direct the spray 

 (Fig. 1). With this device it is possible to treat walks up to 

 the very edge without injuring the grass in the least. A single 

 drop of arsenate of soda will injure any vegetation it touches, 

 so care must be used in handling it ; therefore this little attach- 

 ment shown in Eig. 1 is valuable for directing the liquid. 

 Arsenate of soda should not be "used too freely near the feed- 

 ing roots of trees, but we have never noticed any injury from 

 treating walks near shrubbery or even within a few feet of 

 large trees. 



Weeds in Lawxs. 



To insure a heavy growth of grass and absence of weeds a 

 lawn should have a good, deep foundation of rich soil, well 

 supplied with organic matter and plant food. It is also im- 

 portant that the soil should possess the proper physical prop- 

 erties or texture in order to produce a good growth of grass, 

 and it should have sufficient water-retaining capacity to enable 

 the grass to endure drought. A soil of medium texture well 

 provided with loam, with a water-retaining capacity of about 

 70 per cent., is much better than a coarse soil of less water-re- 

 taining capacity: for in seasons of drought the coarse soil will 

 dry out very quickly and the grass wnll suffer, whereas the re- 

 verse is true of the fine soil. The weed proposition loses some 

 of its importance if the lawn is well made, since a good growth 

 of grass will crowd out the weeds. IXew lawns are more troubled 



