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THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



"SPRAYING FOR WEEDS." 



How Science Destroys "Undesirable Plants" 

 Allows the Grain to Remain in Better 

 Health Than Ever. 



and 



Fifteen years ago had you told the average farmer that 

 by going over his grain fields with a spraying machine he 

 could eliminate practically every weed with which they were 

 infested and leave the growing grain benefited and unhurt, he 

 probably would have told you what he thought of you, and 

 had you persisted, he might have used bodily effort to enforce 

 his opinion. 



But this very day that same farmer is probably sitting 

 placidly on the seat of a modern traction sprayer, giving his 

 cereal fields a thorough drenching of weed-killing substance 

 that causes the weeds to turn black and then wither away 

 but leaving the grain unscathed. 



How did this transition come about? Like all great dis- 

 coveries very simply. 



In 1896, Prof. H. L. Bolley of the North Dakota Agri- 

 cultural Experiment Station, Fargo, North Dakota, decided 

 to make a definite effort to test whether it would be possible 

 to kill young weeds, especially young mustard plants, in 

 growing wheat, by means of chemicals sprayed over the 

 weeds and grain, without killing them both in so doing. He 

 had long considered such a proposition as very feasible, but 

 of course required some time to get what he considered the 

 proper proportions of spraying mixture before making the 

 first trial. However, he made the attempt in 1896 with solu- 

 tions of copper sulphate and mercuric bichloride and met 

 with surprisingly successful results, plainly demonstrating that 

 he was unon the right track. So to our own United States 

 belongs the credit for this discovery, although French in- 

 vestigators were working along the same lines at nearly the 

 same time. In 1897-8 other exhaustive experiments were un- 

 dertaken, and very shortly it was firmly established that such 

 work could be practised with a high degree of success by any 

 farmer. Since that time, experiments have been steadily 

 pursued along this line and the fact remains that certain 

 weeds can be entirely eliminated without destruction to the 

 grain growing beside them. 



The success of the entire project lies in the simple fact 

 that the leaves of nearly all farm weeds are broad and some- 

 what rough and soft, while on the other hand, the growing 

 grain plant is slender of stalk and leaf, and presents a 

 smaller and smoother surface. When the liquid is sprayed 

 forth from the machine, the broad and porous leaved weed 

 catches and absorbs a sufficient quantity of the chemical to 

 insure its death, while from the slender grain plant, the 

 liquid runs off without doing any damage. After spraying, 

 the tops of the entire sprayed tract will turn black, but in two 

 or three days the prain plants will have regained their nat- 

 ural color and original strength, while the weeds are withered 

 and dead. 



Sulphate of iron has largely succeeded copper sulphate 

 because of the cheapness of the former, and many tons of it 

 are now being used in this anti-weed campaign. The spray- 

 ing should be done when both the grain and the weeds are 

 young, about the time the grain is four to eight inches high, 

 althougn some later experiments bv Professor Bolley indicate 

 that the work can be carried on when the grain is older. The 



more raoid the growth of the weed, the more susceptible it is 

 to the effect of the spraying mixture, and the more thoroughly 

 the work can be done. 



There are, of course, some weeds that cannot be affected 

 without injury to the grain, but the most prevalent of the 

 "vagrant" weeds, such as false flax, worm seed mustard, 

 tumbling mustard, common wild mustard, shepherd's purse, 

 pepper grass, ball mustard, corn cockle, chickweed, dandelion, 

 Canada thistle, bindweed, plantain, rough pigweed, king- 

 head, Red river weed, rag weed and cocklebur, can all be con- 

 trolled, and in nearly every case, entirely eradicated, by care- 

 ful and systematic spraying. 



It is not the writer's intention to make this a conclusive 

 article, but rather to stimulate interest in what is undoubtedly 

 one of the greatest boons to the farmer that has yet been dis- 

 covered. And especially is this so, where there are large 

 tracts of land, and heretofore not sufficient help to thoroughly 

 work them. 



Where the field is large and uniformly infested with 

 weeds, a traction sprayer that will generate enough pressure 

 to throw a fine, powerful mist through Deming Bordeaux 

 nozzles, makes the most satisfactory outfit, but where the 

 weeds grow in patches, a small cart sprayer like the one in 

 the illustration, will give very satisfactory results. Nearly 

 any spray tmmo manufacturer can give very complete informa- 

 tion about spray pumps for this purpose. 



Professor Bolley has issued from time to time bulletins 

 on weed spraying, which contain valuable information and 

 give details of the entire operation, also many other points 

 relating to weeds. Cooies of these bulletins are sent free to 

 anyone on request. 



Spray Pump Made by The Deming Co., Salem, Ohio. 



The same principle mentioned before in this article, can 

 be made use of in ridding dandelions from our lawns, viz., 

 by using sulphate of iron in proportions of about two pounds 

 to the pallon of water. 



There is nothing miraculous at all in this method of 

 weed eradication. It is simply an anolication of common sense, 

 and after we give it a little sober investigation, we wonder 

 why it wasn't thought of before "It seems so simple" which 

 expression, by the way, is practically the same one we always 

 use after another's mind has brought forth some new de- 

 velopment for the benefit of the human race. 



While, of course, such a method of destroying weeds 

 cannot replace the approved methods of eradication by culti- 

 vation, seed cleaning, crop rotation, manure composting, 

 proper pasturing and vigilant hand work, still, the writer 

 feels safe in asserting that the financial gain to the country 

 at large from this discovery will be greater than that afforded 

 by any other single scientific investigation applied to the 

 process of agriculture, as soon as the farming public makes it 

 a regular practise. 



