WEEDS AND THEIR ERADICATION 



221 



QUACK GRASS (Agropyron repens) . J 



ately with the spike-tooth harrow. This will drag out a great many of the 



roots. These should be dragged or 



raked to one end of the field, to be 



dried in piles and then burned. The 



ground should be plowed the second 



time, late in the fall. This should be 



done crossways of the first plowing. 



The ground should be worked down 



again with the harrow and as many of 



the rootstocks dragged out, piled and 



burned as possible. 



The next spring cultivation should 



begin as early as possible, the ground 



being worked every few days. Then a 



cultivated crop should be planted, 



preferably corn. The corn should be 



planted in hills so that cultivation 



can be given both ways of the field. 



The corn should be cultivated thor- 

 oughly and a close watch kept for 



any stray quack grass which may come up. 

 If there is any doubt as to whether 

 the quack grass is completely killed, a 

 mixture of hairy vetch and rye should be 

 sown in the last cultivation of the corn. 

 This cover crop should be plowed down the 

 next spring and a heavy seeding of millet 

 sown. The cover crop and the millet fol- 

 lowing the corn will surely smother out the 

 last of the quack grass. 



A thick covering of straw or manure a 

 foot or so thick and well packed down, will 

 smother out the grass. It will take from 

 two to three months to smother out quack 

 grass, as the roots remain alive for some 

 time even though the tops above ground 

 be dead. 



Foxtail. The green and yellow foxtails 

 are very similar in appearance and in habit. 

 They are both annuals and propagate by 

 seed alone, seeding from August to October. 

 The yellow foxtail is a common weed all over the world, while the 



green foxtail is found mostly in North America. The seed of the foxtails 



are common impurities in many grass and legume seeds. Once in the 



l Courtesy of The Pennsylvania Farmer. 



GREEN FOXTAIL (Getaria 

 viridis) , l 



1 Concave side of seed. 

 3 Convex side of seed. 

 Both enlarged. 



