DISSEMINATION OF WEEDS 11 



well as instruction in better methods, would be more cordially 

 received from such an accredited officer than from aggrieved neigh- 

 bors. 



But the most prolific source of weed infestation in all parts of the 

 country is in the sale and exchange of commercial seeds and 

 foodstuffs. It is well known that the introduction and subsequent 

 spread in this country of some of its most aggressive and unmanage- 

 able land-plagues, as the Orange Hawkweed, the Russian Thistle, 

 and the Penny-cress, or Frenchweed, are due to this agency. In 

 many parts of the country the business is carried on unchecked by 

 inspection or restriction of any kind, and in communities possessed 

 of laws for such regulation these are often inoperative through 

 negligence. This is a state of affairs that works great injustice to 

 both the merchant and the farmer. Itinerant presses are hauled 

 about the country, putting hay and straw into bales convenient 

 for transportation. When shipped away for sale, a hay-bale may 

 contain a large percentage of Ox-eye Daisy, Yarrow, Ragweed, or 

 Wild Carrot, rendering it unpalatable and innutritious to stock and 

 a lasting damage to the fields where the refuse is spread ; yet it may 

 bring nearly as good a price as another bale of clean Timothy or 

 Blue Grass. Were the "pressmen" obliged by law to tag every 

 bale according to its quality, growers would be made more heedful 

 of their own shortcomings, and salesmen would be less blamed for a 

 matter over which they have little control. 



On both sides of the steel track, long green trails, composed largely 

 of pernicious kinds of growth, have been drawn over the country 

 by the railways, for which they have been called to account and 

 obliged to spend enormous sums yearly in keeping their rights-of- 

 way in order. The cost of weed removal along the railways of the 

 one state of Ohio is placed by Stair at over a half-million of dollars 

 per annum. Yet it is to be remembered that the railways are 

 merely carriers, probably preferring to haul good, rather than bad, 

 merchandise, and having nothing to do with the composition of the 

 cargoes that have leaked and spilled so much vexation to the 

 cultivators along their routes. The farmer who blames the rail- 

 way for a new pest in his fields may have shipped some that are 

 just as troublesome to other localities. 



Many American farmers are very unwise and shortsighted in the 



