220 



SUCCESSFUL FARMING 



stocks by cutting off all green parts above ground. This requires destroy- 

 ing the plants in some manner every week at first, and then every two weeks 

 until the rootstocks die of starvation. 



In a small grain crop keep them cut with scythe or hoe, so as not to 

 let them go to seed. After harvest the land should be plowed rather deeply 

 and then worked down with the drag harrow. All roots harrowed out 

 should be piled, dried and burned. The land should be disked regularly 

 about every ten days, so as to destroy stray plants. In the late fall the 

 land should be re-plowed, but not worked down, so as to expose the remain- 

 ing roots to frost action. In the early spring 

 the ground should be worked with a disk and 

 a smother crop sown, such as oats and Canada 

 field peas, millet or buckwheat. 



Canada thistles occurring in pastures must 

 be cut out below the ground every ten days 

 until starved out. After cutting the plants, 

 it is well to pour a little kerosene on the stem 

 and roots. Often spraying with strong con- 

 centrated salt solution will be effective in 

 pastures and waste places. The spraying 

 should be done thoroughly and repeated when 

 young shoots reappear. Spray materials 

 should be applied under high pressure, and in 

 a vapor spray, to be effective. 



After all, sprays used as a substitute for the 

 scythe and mower will not kill the roots below 

 the ground. 



When the thistle occurs in a cultivated 

 crop, knives or sweeps should be used on the 

 cultivator instead of the ordinary shovels. 

 The sweeps will be more effective in cutting 

 off the plants. The thistles that grow within 

 the row should be kept cut out with the hoe. 

 Quack Grass. Quack grass is perennial and propagates both by seeds 

 and creeping underground rootstocks. The stems grow from one to two 

 feet tall. The leaves are ashy green in color, rough on the upper side and 

 smooth beneath. The plant flowers in June and seeds in July. 



The plant sends out underground rootstocks which are jointed, each 

 joint capable of budding a new plant. Quack grass grows an enormous 

 root system, which soon crowds and smothers out other plants. 



Control. Quack grass may be subdued if no green leaves are allowed 

 to develop. Since quack grass makes fair pasture, a good plan, where 

 possible, is to pasture it close to the ground during the midsummer; then 

 plow deeply in the early fall. The ground should be worked down immedi- 



1 Courtesy of The Pennsylvania Farmer. 



THE CANADA THISTLE 



(Circium arvense). 1 

 B Seed enlarged. 



