32 



FARMERS' REGISTER— VELOCITY OF THE WIND. 



or fitteen each way, in about seven years. Having 

 heard that salt and strong brine would kill them, I 

 procured, three years ago, a ((uantity talcen irom 

 fish barrels, and taking oil' the top stones of the 

 wall so as to come nearer the roots, the brine and 

 salt was put on very bountitully. It had the et- 

 ti'ct of killing the tops of the thistles, and wilted 

 them down; but the next sunnner they came up 

 through the wall as thrifty as beti)re. I see no re- 

 medy in a case like this, but to remove the wall, 

 otherwise they will travel to each end of it, and 

 from this lodgment spread over the adjoining field. 

 And I have no doubt, that if a strip of rich, mel- 

 low land, reaching a distance of twenty miles, 

 could be had, unobstructed by rivers, swamps, &c. 

 a low stone wall placed thereon, and a lamily of 

 thistles set a going at one end, but that they would 

 in course of time, reach the other, and without the 

 agency of any seed. 



On my mowing and pasture lands, such as are 

 wet and never ploughed, there are some patches 

 of the thistle; which have for twenty-fi\ie years 

 past remained nearly stationary. They are al- 

 ways mowed ofl' in July, before the seed is ripe, 

 and if necessaiy a second time to prevent their 

 seeding. In this kind of hard sward land, they 

 are small and puny, and comparatively give but 

 small trouble and annoyance. 



Whenever we have succeeded in expelling the 

 thistle Irom our tillage lands, which is the extent 

 of my expectations,"in respect to my own, and all 

 that i would at present advise others to attempt 

 doing, they may, I am confident, with little care 

 and no expense, be easily kept otl' afterwards. 

 The seedling thistle is very small, and as easily 

 destroyed as a pigweed, should they happen to be 

 observed. It requires Several years for them to 

 form any considerable patch — their greatest secu- 

 rity is their not being noticed, untU by their side 

 or horizontal roots they have run out in different 

 directions. Small patches may be killed by a deep 

 covering of any thing that will keep them under, 

 and prevent them from shooting up to the surface. 

 This I have done with pomace put on to some 

 very small bunches near my cider mill. Salting 

 cattle and sheej) often on small pieces, will have 

 the Uke eflect; but this must be done very often, 

 and through the season of growing. The salt it- 

 self does not have the eft'ect of destroying the 

 roots, because it cannot reach them, but the f re- 

 fluent licldng of the spot by the cattle takes off 

 the shoots as fast as they come above the ground, 

 Avhich is the same in its effects, as hoeing tliem off. 

 AH these methods, however, cannot be practised 

 except on a very small scale. 



I know of no plant or bush, with which the Ca- 

 nada thistle so nearly compares in its habits and 

 modes of propagation, as the common elder. This, 

 like the thistle, has its seed, and its horizontal roots 

 with which to form patches; and like it, also, in 

 not being to be destroyed by cutting off the tops 

 once, or even twice a year, but must be rooted out. 

 The same treatment which kills the thistle would 

 have the Uke effect on the elder; but this would be 

 attended with too much trouble, for the small num- 

 ber usually on our farms, — the better way, there- 

 fore, is to dig and root them out at once. But I 

 think it is as great an absurdity for a farmer to say 

 that he will not attempt to destroy the clumps of 

 elder on his mowing land, because his neighbor 

 letg them alone to seed, as to refuse to kill the this- 



tle on his plough land lor the like cause. Since in 

 either case, when they are once eradicated, they 

 are easily kept out, let his neighbor's practice be 

 what it may. 



In my various experiments, I have tested this 

 method of destroying the thistle sufficiently to con- 

 vince myself at least, that it is very practicable, 

 and attended with but little expense,^ if pursued 

 with due care and perseverance. If no failures 

 had happened in my several and yearly attempts,^ 

 another year would have completed the routine of 

 my ploughing fields, but it Avill now take three — 

 and as I am less than that, from three score and 

 ten, and have a wish to complete what I have un- 

 dertaken, I must be careful to avoid the like er- 

 rors in future. I close this long article with the^ 

 hope that it may be of use, by inducuig some of 

 my brother farmers, who have a good stock of re- 

 solution and jjerseverance, and a plenty of Cana- 

 da thistles on their land, to try the experimc^nt, at 

 first, if they please, on a small scale. I shall be 

 pleased to be informed of the results, and particu- 

 larly of their success. In the interim, I would in- 

 ibrm them that I have allotted and set oft" for the 

 ensuing year, a pretty large job of the same sort. 

 The ground on two fieids being already once 

 ploughed for corn, on which there are patches of 

 thistles in plenty, enough to cover three and a half 

 or four acres, of which, provided my hetilth is 

 spared, I hope to be able to give a good account at 

 the close of another year. 



A SUBSCRIBER. 



Note. — I would add one more remark, that no 

 grass or weeds of any kind, must be permitted to 

 grow on the spots or patches during the season of 

 the operation, as they conceal the thistle sprouts, 

 which may consequently escape the hoe. I have 

 usually, on the spots where the thistles Avere thick 

 and intermixed with weeds, hoed the ground well 

 all over, as often as was necessary to destroy the 

 weeds, and at the same time the thistle was taken 

 oft' also. 



Showing the velocity of the wind in different circum- 

 stances. 



3Iiles per 

 hour. 



1 

 2 



3 

 4 

 5 

 10 

 15 

 20 

 25 

 30 

 35 

 40 

 45 

 50 

 60 

 80 



100 



Feet per 

 second. 



1.47 



2.93 



4. 4 



5.87 



7.33 



14.67 



22. 



29. .34 



36.67 



44.01 



51.34 



58.68 



66.01 



73.35 



88.02 



117.36 



146.7 



Perpendicular force on si]uar(> feet, 

 in averdupois pounds and parts. 



020 > hardly perceptible- 

 044 V*^®^ perceptible. 



io^ ? gently pleasant. 



1107 { ples-santly brisk. 



^ > very brisk. 



> high wind, 



> very high wind. 



1.968 



3.075 



4.429 



6.027 



7,873 



9.963 



12.300 



17.715 



31.490 



49,200 



storm or tempest. 



great storm. 



hunicane. 



I hurricane that tears 

 ■ up trees and carries 

 I building-s before it. 



