Stinkweed. This pest is found in the greatest abundance in the rich lands 

 of the Red Eiver valley, where it flourishes with remarkable vigour and where 

 great difficulty is experienced in controlling it, on account of the distribution 

 of the seeds by spring floods. There are also in other parts of the Province 

 and in the North-western Provinces and British Columbia, certain districts 

 where this weed has established itself thoroughly and where it is causing 

 great loss. 



Remedy : Hand-pulling and burning is probably the best way of stamp- 

 ing out Stinkweed in new localities and on small areas ; but, when it is thor- 

 oughly established, more drastic measures must be adopted. These are all 

 based on some operation by which the seeds are covered up so as to get them 

 to germinate, and then the young plants are destroyed with harrow, culti- 

 vator or plough, before they ripen seeds. The land should be cultivated per- 

 sistently as soon as a fresh growth of the weed has developed, and great care 

 must be taken not to plough down any full-sized seed pods, even although 

 they may be green, as it has been proved that seeds in such a state of develop- 

 ment, can ripen beneath the soil in the dry climate of the West. On land 

 which is to be summer-fallowed, if there is a heavy growth of this weed with 

 fully formed seed pods, the plants should be first mowed down, removed 

 from the field and piled on a piece of hard land where, after drying, they can 

 be burnt. Mr. Willing says truly: "Close attention should be given to any 

 portion of a farm where Stinkweed has been noticed, and careful persistent 

 work will be required to eradicate it; but it should not be forgotten that it 

 will pay well to drop all other work and fight this weed when it is first 

 noticed." If a crop on new ploughing or summer fallow is noticed, early in 

 the season, to be infested, the field should be thoroughly worked on the sur- 

 face with a weeder or a light harrow with sloping teeth, as described under 

 Wild Mustard at page 24, beginning the work when the grain is three inches 

 high and repeating the operation once or twice- afterwards in bad cases. It 

 will be found that this destroys an enormous number of small weed seedlings 

 and improves the grain crop very much. It is, I feel confident, the most im- 

 portant remedial measure which can be adopted to clear land of Stinkweed. 

 Experiments of recent years in the Red River valley have shown this to be 

 the case ; and the remarkable sight may there be seen, of clean fields giving 

 crops of fortj- bushels to the acre, with others close to them bearing not more 

 than from ten to twelve bushels of grain, the difference being entirely due 

 to the presence of Stinkweed in the one case and to its having been harrowed 

 out in the other. A treatment which has given good results is to run a disk 

 or harrow over stubble as soon as the crop is carried, so as to start into growth 

 the seeds near the surface. The following spring, harrow or cultivate these 

 plants down; and, as soon as a growth of fresh plants starts, plough the land 

 and harrow at once. This land may be sown late to a green feed crop, or it 

 may be kept under a clean fallow for the whole season if the land can be 

 spared. The following spring any growth of weeds should be cultivated 

 down before sowing the crop. An excellent plan which will enable a farmer 

 to take a rest in this fight, so as to attend to other parts of his farm,- is to 

 seed down with Brome Grass or Western Rye-grass, fifteen pounds to the acre, 

 in the western provinces, or to Timothy or Western Rye-grass in Manitoba. 

 Such fields will require mowing occasionally during the first season to prevent 

 seeds ripening. The grass will choke out even the Stinkweed after the first 

 year. When the sod is ploughed up again, some seeds will germinate; but 

 these can be dealt with, as before. The seeds of Stinkweed are very easily 

 carried on threshing mnohines and other implements, so these should be care- 

 fully examined when coming from a district infested with Stinkweed on to a 

 clean farm. Where only a small patch occurs on a farm, the greatest care 



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