102 ESSAY ON DESTROYING WEEDS. 



sufficient to kill an acre of woodwax. The hay may be taken off af- 

 ter a few weeks and used for litter, with but little diminution of its 

 value. I should recommend this as the most economical method of 

 destroying it in rocky lands that cannot be ploughed. The usual 

 practice of burning it in the fall, winter or spring, docs no good and 

 should be discontinued. Burning it in a dry and hot day in sum- 

 mer, when it is in bloom, will kill -the greater part of it. But this 

 cannot be done where it has been burned in the spring or fall pre- 

 vious. There is a wild kind of clover, zigzag clover, (trifolium 

 medium,) which grows in this vicinity, which will overpower and 

 root out the woodwaxen. This fact can be verified by spots of 

 ground in Dan vers, where these two tap rooted plants have, sown by 

 Nature, contended for the mastery, and where the clover is victo- 

 rious. This, however, is where grazing animals have had no access. 

 In pastures where cattle are allowed to feed, the clover would prob- 

 ably be eaten and subdued. I have never known this clover sown 

 for this purpose. With a little labor, the seed might be obtained, 

 and the fact stated is, I think, well worthy the attention of those 

 who have woodwaxen to destroy. Another means of destroying this 

 troublesome plant is pasturing sheep upon it. To do this effectually, 

 the pasture must be overstocked and the sheep be kept hungry. 

 They will then eat up and destroy every spear of it, and if properly 

 managed, kept alive and ready to be fattened on better forage. 



Another shrub, or vine, far more difficult to subdue and equally 

 ruinous to pasture lands, is the blackberry vine. This cannot be 

 destroyed by ordinary tillage. On one of my paternal acres, I have 

 noticed the present year blackberry vines growing on a spot where 

 I have known them to be for more than fifty years, notwithstanding 

 the field has been alternately under culture or in grass during the 

 whole of that period. Every piece of root left in the ground, and 

 they run far below the reach of the plough, will send up shoots to 

 the surface, which, if allowed to run themselves there, will live on 

 indefinitely. The plan of smothering this plant, I have never seen 

 tried, but can have no doubt it would prove effectual if continued a 

 sufficient length of time. From its greater tenacity of life, longer 

 time and a more careful watching and covering, it would probably 

 be necessary than for some other plants. Sheep will destroy it 

 pastured thereon in the same manner they do woodwaxen. 



The keeping of sheep, for the purpose in part of keeping pastures 



