Proceedings of the Farmers' Club. 515 



January 19, 1869. 



Mr. Nathan C. Ely in the chair; Mr. John W. Chambers, Secretary. 



How "Weeds Originate. 



Mr. J. W. Tanderbnrg, Yictor, K. Y., asks tlie club to discuss the 

 source of weeds. He speaks of the often noticed fact, that after the 

 ^'ound has been broken to a considerable d'epth, or the earth thrown 

 up from the bottom of a pit or a well, new and curious weeds make 

 their appearance on the surface thus exposed. He speaks of his 

 experience with the Canada thistle, and sajs he has mastered it with 

 ■ clover. Cut clover and tliistle together about the 20th of June. Then 

 cut again when clover seed is harvested, and plow under in the spring 

 when the plants are feeble. 



Dr. Isaac P. Trimble. — The seeds, alike of useful or noxious plants, 

 are carried to great distances by birds. The down of thistle grains 

 floats it afar. I have often killed birds at different times of the year, 

 and found in their craws the seeds of apples, of wild roses, and some- 

 times of weeds. 



Mr. P. T. Quinn. — There is a class of seeds, the oleaginous, that 

 keep in vigor a great many years when buried. In sinking a well I 

 have seen rag-weed, spring up rank on earth that came from a depth 

 of ten feet, and had no mixture with the soil. White clover ofiiers 

 another example. While the soil is poor and lacks potash it will not 

 grow, but add manure, and it will spring up at once. 



Dr. J. E. Snodgrass. — Will some gentleman tell me why white and 

 not red clover will spring up when land has an accession to its 

 fertility? 



Dr. Isaac P. Trimble. — When Prof. Mapes was with us he often 

 spoke of manures being in a progressed state. As I understand that 

 word, he meant that a substance might be in the soil in abundance, 

 but in such mineral condition, so compounded with other inert matters, 

 that plants can make no use of it. This is true of potash. In a granite 

 soil there is an abundance of potash, but often not in a j)rogressive 

 state. The addition of a small quantity of manure that has a solvent 

 power may release that potash, and white clover will spring up. Eed 

 clover is more dependent on lime for its growth, and lime is not so 

 readily released from its combinations as potash. 



