THE RU55IAN THI5TLL 



Description, and Measures for Its Control. 



. 

 The Legislature of California, at its thirty-sixth session, passed an 



\vhieh was approved by the Governor on March 20, 1905, increasing 



the duties of the Horticultural Commissioners and local inspectors of the 



di tit-rent counties by providing that they should be required to "super- 



i he destruction of scale insects, diseases, Russian thistle or salt- wort, 



or other noxious weeds. ' ' 



This law, under the statutes, went into effect sixty days from date of 

 signing, which was on May 20th. Since the imposition of these new 

 duties upon the horticultural officers of the State, there have been 

 numerous inquiries at this office as to how the Russian thistle may be 

 recognized and what are to be considered as noxious weeds. The ques- 

 tion of what shall be considered * ' noxious weeds, ' ' we suppose, will have 

 to be left largely to the County Boards of Horticulture and the Boards 

 of Supervisors, for weeds that are exceedingly noxious in some portions 

 of the State can hardly be considered so in others; but in the matter 

 of new weeds there can be no doubt, and this is particularly true of the 

 Russian, the Canada, and the Scotch thistles, and especially so of the 

 former, which has already obtained a foothold in several of our counties, 

 but which has not as yet become so firmly established as to be beyond 

 possibility of extirpation. 



From the fact that the Russian thistle is a new weed in our State, 

 there exists a vast amount of ignorance concerning it. Owing to its 

 name, which is an absurd misnomer, every species of thistle and many 

 other weeds are mistaken for it, and from various sources we learn of 

 its existence over the length and breadth of the State, but in most cases 

 our informants are mistaken. 



The fact is, that, at present, this pest is confined to so limited an area 

 in California that it may be said not to exist here, and it is in order 

 that our Horticultural Commissioners and local inspectors and others 

 interested may be able to recognize this weed on sight, and also to 

 realize the great importance of totally eradicating it where it may be 

 discovered, that this bulletin is published. The necessity of this is 

 forced upon us by the fact that, since the law became operative very 



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