220 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



grass that grows with it, and then it will turn round and kill 

 itself out. On a deep soil, in rich, mellow, moist land, it 

 will thrive wonderfully. I have cut sods that for two or 

 three inches deep were nothing but witch-grass roots, and 

 when it was in the right state to shake the dust out, there 

 would be twice as much bulk of roots as there was to begin 

 with, showing that it was about all roots. I have tried sev- 

 eral different ways to kill it, and have found that the best 

 way is to turn the ground over in the spring and sow it to 

 fodder-corn, scratching in a little manure. If you can possi- 

 bly cover the corn with dirt, it is best to do so. Sow it in 

 the season of the 3^ear when it will grow the best, May or 

 June. You get the fodder-corn started and it will keep 

 down the witch-grass. As has been remarked by one 

 gentleman, it is pretty hard if ploughed in June, to cross- 

 plough it that year. Mr. Lewis can do it on his land, but it 

 cannot be done on land that is filled with witch-grass. After 

 you get your corn oif, it can be cross-ploughed the same fall, 

 and the season following, there is no trouble in killing it by 

 ploughing just as often as it comes above ground, or harrow- 

 ing once a fortnight or ten days, or doing anything that will 

 disturb it. In this way yon can kill it perfectly, so that you 

 will be able to seed the land down the fall following after you 

 have got your crop of fodder-corn. By turning over the sod 

 and covering it, you will kill it effectually. It wants sun and 

 air ; it cannot live without them, any more than we can live 

 under water. I have tried it, and know that you can kill 

 witch-grass by summer-fallowing. The worst trouble that I 

 have found with it, where I have followed it up so closely 

 that the witch-grass was killed out entirely, was that the 

 ground was all dust ; and if there was the least slope to the 

 land, with such showers as we have had for two years, the wash 

 was tremendous, because it would be smooth, like a floor, and 

 if there was nothing more than the soil to hold it, it would 

 wash badly. I have concluded that hereafter, when I take up 

 a piece to kill the witch-grass in that way, after it becomes 

 fine, I will sow it to oats. These will f?prout very quick at 

 that season of the year, July or August, and they will hold 

 the soil from being washed away by the heavy showers. 

 As regards the question whether we lose the use of our 



