FARMERS' REGISTER— CANADA THISTLES. 



31 



taken sick, and was confined until alter corn har- 

 vest. The thistles of course were forgotten. To 

 make the matter still worse, the ground instead of 

 being planted again as it should have been, was 

 sown with barley and peas, and in September fol- 

 lowing with wheat, and the next spring stocked 

 with clover for pasture. The same patches of 

 thistles having revived, began to show themselves 

 on the barley and peas, but being few in number 

 and scattering, no attention was paid them. They 

 have since continued to increase and sj;read by 

 tlieir horizontal roots, so that there is nearly or 

 quite as many on the field as at first; although 

 they have been regularly mo^\'ed off every year, 

 and sometimes a second time, and have not seeded. 



ing, and had become what is termed sward-bound, 

 which checks the growth, although it does not kill 

 the thistle. The same course was pursued as in 

 former years, and the business was well and regu- 

 larly attended to. But few appeared af^er the first 

 of September, but they were not neglected as long 

 as one was to be found. I think they are all de- 

 stroyed; but to make the thing doubly sure, I in- 

 tend to have it planted next season. 



A small piece at one end o this ground was 

 planted Avith potatoes, on which I had never noticed 

 any thistles. They however made their appearance, 

 and were cut off with the rest. But when the tops of 

 the potatoes began to fall on and cover the ground, 

 it was with difficulty that the thistles could be 



This faUure was evidently owing to the business [ found, and probably enough has escaped to keep 



not being attended to as it should have been the 

 latter part of the season; but might have been re- 

 medied had the ground been planted with corn the 

 second year, and which I shall do soon, and hope 

 to avoid a like neglect, by which our labor m ex- 

 perimenting this season was lost. 



The season of 1830, I planted another field with 

 corn of about the same size of the last mentioned. 

 There were on this field a number of patches of 

 the thistle, some of them large, say over half an 

 acre, some small. It was calculated that altoge- 

 ther they would have covered two and a half 

 acres of ground. Having as usual marked the 

 spots ■with ))oles stuck in the ground, we com- 

 menced cutting them at the proper time. The la- 

 bor required on this field was more than on any I 

 had yet taken in hand — the patches being large, 

 and the thistles thick and strong. At first, and 

 while vegetation was quick and rapid, the labor to 

 go over them was equal to f^vo men a da}-; but in 

 a short time one man would do it in the same time, 

 and towards the close of summer in three or four 

 hours. Some of these patches were obstinate, so 

 that we were obliged to fbllo^v them up into Octo- 

 ber; others gave up sooner. On the whole, thej" 

 were totally destroyed. None escaped, and none 

 are now to be found in any part of the field that 

 has been ploughed. Although we succeeded 

 in destroying the thistle on this field the first year, 

 I should advise, where killing them is the great 

 object, to plant with corn two years in succession, 

 (although this m other cases might be bad ma- 

 nagement,) that should any thistles escape the 

 first, they may be finished the second j'car. 



I cannot state the expense of this experiment, 

 as I kept no memorandum; but should think it 

 would amount to not more than twenty dollars, if 

 men had been hired for that express work; but as 

 it was done mostly by boys, with myself j or some 

 careful hand to overlook, I paid out nothing extra 

 for labor that season on account of this job, and 

 there was no neglect of other farming operations. 

 But twenty or even forty dollars, would be nothing 

 compared with the object attained, by clearing a 

 good plough field of this nuisance. Had they 

 been left to their natural course, they would in a 

 few years by the running of their horizonttil roots, 

 and scattering with the plough and han'ow, have 

 spread over the whole field and ruined it for tillage. 



The last season I planted whh corn a small 

 piece of about four and a half acres, much infest- 

 ed with thistles. It was planted Avith the express 

 \iew of kOling them — they were spread over a 

 great part of the ground, but were small, the land 

 having lain in pasture twelve jears without plough- 



fhe roots alive, and more or less will make their 

 appearance another year. I therefore would ad- 

 \ase never to plant potatoes where, and when, the 

 great object is to destroy the thistle. On another 

 account, I consider corn much the best crop to 

 plant with this view. The roots of this plant, if 

 it grows strong, run through and fill the gi'ound 

 vWth small fibres, which has a tendency to keep 

 the ground diy and hard; at the same time the tops 

 form a shade, and altogether seem to have the ef- 

 fect of checking the growth of the thistle, and aid 

 in the operation of destroying it. 



To prevent the necessity of going over the 

 ground as often as was required with the hoe, I 

 last spring had made some iron tools not unlike a 

 small light crowbar, flattened at the lower end to 

 about a hand's breadth and length, and steeled. 

 With this tool, in soft mellow ground, the thistle 

 may be taken up to the depth of six to twelve 

 inches; but the process is much slower, and perr 

 haps the time employed in killing them in this 

 wa}^, although the operation is not so often to be 

 performed, is equal to doing it with a hoe, with 

 which the gi'ound is much quicker gone over. 



The horizontal root of this plant, so often men- 

 tioned as its principal instrument of propagation, 

 will be found at various depths, according to soil. 

 In lands under the plough, and in other rich mel- 

 low ground, they push themselves along, in every 

 direction from the main patch, and at every few 

 inches send up a branch to the surface. On care- 

 fully uncovering a space several feet square, I have 

 found them in a matter connected and tied together 

 with this root. Whenever they can be taken up 

 below the horizontal root, they are mostly destroy- 

 ed with once going over, and with the iron tool 

 before described, tliis is frequently done; and where 

 there may be a very small patch in a distant field, 

 the inconvenience of looking to it as often as would 

 be necessary with a hoe, might be avoided by 

 taking this course. In wet rainy seasons, like the 

 last two, I find they spread themselves much faster 

 than m dry ones. The ground being soft, and the 

 roots strong and vigorous, and meeting less re- 

 sistance, they will push along a considerable tUs- 

 tance in one summer. 



About nine years since, I had made a string of 

 half .stone fence, with posts, and boards on top. 

 The ground on which the wall was ])laccd, was rich 

 bottom, and was set there to withstand the spring 

 floods. It was made on the line of one of my 

 neighbor's land, on which at a small distance was 

 a large patch of Canada thistles. In a short time 

 they pushed along and reached the wall, and have 

 run along in, and under it, more than thirty rods, 



