24 



THE GENi:SEE FARMER. 



four or five times a day, and then it will be eaten 

 Tip clean, and the cows will thrive and do well, if 

 well taken care of. Tliey slionld be kept clean, and 

 only turned out in cold weather lon;:^ enough to 

 drink. Towards spring, they should have a little 

 meal or some bran, every day, to have them in 

 good condition when they come in. 



Jam, Wyoming Co., K. Y. ANDREW J. TAYLOR. 



CANADA THISTLE. 



The Canada Thistle {Ciugus aitensis) is one of 

 the most troublesome weeds on the farm, and any 

 clieap and easy method of destroying it would be a 

 great boon to farmers. It is a perennial plant, with 

 long creeping roots, by wliicli it eiisily spreads it- 

 self, and is so tenacious of life that when it once 

 gets possession of tlje soil, it is a work of both time 

 and labor to subdue it. 



As prevention is always better than cure, every 

 farmer should prevent, as much as possible, any 

 thistle from growing to seed, as Nature has furnish- 

 ed the seed with plumes, by which the wind car- 

 ries them over a whole neighborhood. It is this in 

 part that renders the thistle so difficult to subdue, 

 as no matter how careful our farmers may be, if IjIs 

 neighbor allows thistles to go to seed, they will 

 surely find their way all over his farm. The mos<t 

 feasible means, therefore, of ridding a whole neigh- 

 borhood, is carefully to prevent any from going to 

 seed. 



A principle aflfects the vitality of weeds that 

 ught never to be lost sight of in attempting their 

 destruction ; and he who practices it will infallibly 

 prevent their coming to maturity. The elaboration 

 of the sap is effected by the leaves of a ph^nt, and 

 it is the elaborated sap that enables it to sustain its 

 existence. By preventing tlie development of the 

 leaves, and consequeutly the elaboration of the sap, 

 the lite of the plant will be sacrificed. The simple 

 plan, therefore, of destroying the thistle, (and all 

 s jrts of weeds, is to deprive them of their leaves as 

 soon as they appear. "When this can be done, the 

 weeds will soon be destroyed. 



On land that is overrun with thistles, if well 

 adapted to the growth of fall wheat, we would give 

 it a thorough summer following — plowing four or 

 five times in the course of the summer, as often as 

 they showed themselves green above ground — stir- 

 ring the soil frequently in dry weacher, for the pur- 

 l)oseof destroying their roots — every inch almost of 

 which will grow. This is not a matter of easy ae- 

 complishment, but is absolulely necessary- to tlie de- 

 struction of the thistle. After taking a crop of 

 wheat, we would seed down the land to cloTer, and 

 the first season after would mow it twice, once say 

 i n the end of June, and the second time for clover 

 seed as soon as ripe. This method will in most cases 

 destroy the Canada thistle, but care must be taken 

 that the land is afterwards kept in proper rotation 

 and regularly seeded down, else they might soon 

 show themselves again. But there is much land 

 covered with Canada thistles on which fall wheat 

 would be an uncertain crop — in fact, on which it 

 could not be sown v,'ith any prospect of a crop. 

 This class of land we vfovXA fallowioith a green crop 

 — of Swedish turnips, Carrots, Mangold Wurtzel, 

 Potatoes, or with Indian corn. These will need 

 careful hoeing. Never aUow the thistles t?o show 



themselves above ground. This method we havt 

 found very effectual wlien carefully done — thj 

 Swedish turnip (ruta baga) leaving always the clean 

 est ground, — and then seed down the landto clover 

 with the ensuing crop. In seeding down huid thai 

 is troulded with thistles, it isof importance to niak- 

 the surface as smooth as possible, so that the scythi 

 or mowing machine may cut as close to the ground 

 as possible, as the nearer the ground the tliistle la 

 cut so much more certain will be its destruction. 

 If mown for two or three seasons, it will be long 

 before they are troublesome again. 



On all grassland orgronnd that can not be plow- 

 ed, if the thistle is carefully cnt for a few seasons 

 they will disajjpenr. Any very bad patches maybe 

 sown with salt, wl>ich will help to ensure their de- 

 trnction. 



"^Ye have often rend nod heard of ea.«y methods of 

 killing the thistle, such as certain days of the year, 

 or certain stages of the moon; bnt we are afraid 

 tha*^, like learning, there is no royal road to the des- 

 truction of the Canada thistle, as Avhen they once 

 get possession of a farm they reqnire ninch labor to 

 get them out, and constant Avatchfulness to keep 

 them out. One great cause of their having overrun 

 the country so much, is the constant cropping of 

 land without any regular rest or rotation. Were 

 all farming land regularly ftillowed and seeded 

 down, and proper care taken to cot all thistles 

 growing on waste lands — road sides and corners of 

 fences — the Canada thistle would cease to be that 

 very troublesome noxious weed on almost all long- 

 cleared farms that it now is. "W. E. 



CbOourff, C. W., Nov. 28, 1S5T. 



THE BEST METHOD OF PULVERISING A HEAVY 

 CLAY SOIL. 



TnE best method of pulverising a heavy clay 

 soil, in order that it may be good for cultivation, is: 

 first, make it dry, either by an open drain along 

 the ujiper side or head land and down two sides to 

 some outlet below, or by underdraining, or both ; 

 and then, if there is any swam]) muck or boggy lands 

 accessible, give it a deep coat theretrom, which can 

 be done to good advantage if the owner has both 

 kinds in his possession on the same farm ; for in or- 

 der to reclaim the boggy land, it needs heavy clay,, 

 and, therefore, when a load of bog is drawn up 

 from the swamp» take down a load of clay ; and 

 then no time is lost. And as the bog needs a ditch 

 to take off the stagnant water, just exchance what 

 comes out of the ditches. But if neither bog nor 

 [swamp muck can be obtained, let the first direction 

 be kept in view, namely, the ditching of the field ;, 

 then let plenty of rough nianure, — the rougher the' 

 better — be a])plied, and if deep plowed, a good quan- 

 tity of pn>per burnt lime. The lime should not be 

 more than half burned. My reasons for tliis are the 

 following: If a heavy coating of well burned 

 lime is applied to land, it is mostly injurious to the 

 first crop, whereas lime with core in it does not all 

 dissolve the first year, but every year it sheds .*; new 

 coat off the core and sinks farther into the soil until 

 it is all spent, and thus enriches the soil, still pul- 

 verizing as it goes, and by thorough cultivation 

 makes a rich productive soil. But lime should never 

 be applied to land as a fertilizer, unless it be either 

 naturally dry or well drained. h. kai^;ex. 



Cotjield, Mercer Co., Pa. 



