T>--i-. 



1864:. 



THE ILLINOIS FARMER. 



169 



Cirsium arvense— Canada Thistle. 



This is sometimes called the " cursed thistle " — 

 and very properly, too. It is certainly a curse and 

 accursed ! But we do not suppose it is so called 

 because " cursed " is synonymous with Canada! 

 We would not be so understood. But there is no 

 sort of doubt but Canada is cursed with it, as well 

 as some of the United States. 



We trust they may long remain without seeing 

 it in their neighborhoods But the seed has wings. 

 It is migratory. It travels in the air, in crockery 

 crates, on railway trains, in emigrant wagons, in 

 dry goods boxes, in tree packages, with grass seed, 

 grain, and it is not altogether impossible that the 

 g»vernment may distribute it through its Agricul- 

 tural Department — as it did the ox-eye daisy a few 

 years since — as a rare flowering plant ! There are 

 a thousand ways in which it may get a foot-hold 

 on virgin soil. And if it once puts its foot in it, 

 long continued and active effort, alone, will eradi- 

 cate it. For if defoliated it does not die. Its root- 

 stock is perennial and extends through the earth 

 in all directions, sending up branches to the surface 

 which quickly develop into plants. The only way 

 we know of getting rid of it is to summer fallow the 

 land in which it makes its appearance, plowing it 

 when dry, (and harrowing it at once,) repeatedly, 

 taking care that no green things remains on it. If 

 it appears in grass lands, it is well to cut it in 

 August, when it is in bloom and the stalks are 

 hollow, before it seeds. The cutting must be fre- 

 quent so as to destroy all the seed panicles. But 

 this will not prevent the extention of the roots, nor 

 them from pushing their branches to the surface. 

 There is little doubt that if defoliation is continued 

 one season, and is complete, the roots will die ; but 

 this will require an amount of vigilance rarely 

 developed against any weed. 



In some States there are laws compelling the 

 extermination of this weed, or levying a heavy fine 

 for neglect. Such a law should be enforced. In 

 the Western States, especially, where this thistle 

 is comparatively unknown, each individual fanner 

 is interested in its enforcement. 



This is not indigenous to the prairies. But it is 

 getting firm foot-hold in some localities, and is only 

 treated with toleration because farmers do not 

 know its villainous character. 



Canada is waking up to the evil effects of this 

 ■weed which is too much honored by its name. A 

 bill has been introduced into the Provincial Parlia- 

 ment " to prevent the spreading of Canada thistles 

 in Upper Canada." The first section of this bill 

 makes it the duty of every owner, possessor, or 

 occupant of land, to cut, or cause to be cut down, 

 all Canada thistles growing thereon so often each 

 year ae to prevent them going to seed. If he fail 

 to do this so as to prevent the spread of the seed, 

 a fine of $10 for each offense is imposed. Section 

 second makes it the duty of the Overseers of High- 

 ways to cut, or cause to be cut down, all of these 

 pests that may be found in the highway in 'their 

 respective districts, and to notify land-holders or 

 owners in his district on whose lands these thistles 

 may be found growing. If the iand holders neg- 

 lects to cut them down within five days after the 

 service of the notice, it is made the duty of the 

 Overseers to do it. And he need give no notice to 

 the owners of non-resident lands. 



Sections three, four and seven provide for the 



compensation of the Overseers, for this work, and 

 punishment of delinquents. 



Section five provides that any person who shall 

 knowingly vend any grass or other seed among 

 which there is any seed of the Canada thistle, shall 

 be liable to a fine of ton dollars for every such 

 offense. Section six imposes a fine of $20 upon 

 the Overseer who neglects or refuses to discharge 

 the duties imposed upon him by this act. 



The Canada Farmer, discussing the merits of 

 this bill says: — "The most serious consequences 

 threten some of the most valuable sections of the 

 country unless something effectual is done in the 

 direction of the proposed enactment. * * * * 

 From the nature of the plant in question, effective 

 measures must of necessity, be simultaneous. The 

 seeds of the Canada thistle are so light and downy 

 that the winds readily convey them great distances. 

 Nine-tenths of the farmers of a given locality may 

 be vigilant and active in their eradication, but if 

 their neighbor is negligent they labor in vain. * * 

 * Our lines of railway are in danger of becoming, 

 to a large extent, seed-beds for this weed. In 

 various localities each side the track is one dense 

 mass of Canada thistles. The value of farm prop- 

 erty is begining to be affected in some localities by 

 the existence of this pest and we know of neglected 

 domains that are quite unsaleable because so over- 

 run with this weed." 



All that our Canada contemporary says of this 

 weed is true ; and v/hat he says of the measures 

 which should be adopted in Canada to prevent its 

 extension, applies with equal force in the States. 

 Indeed the States east and west have no small 

 interest in the passage of this Canada bill ; for 

 travel and traffic through Canada, each way, con- 

 tribute to scatter the seed grown along its thorough- 

 fares, on our own soils. We do not propose to let 

 our readers forget this thistle during the coming 

 season. — Rural N. Yorker. 



We say nip the evil in the bud. After a sojourn 

 in the west of twenty-eight years, we still retain 

 vivid impressions in regard to this " cussed thistle," 

 and say to it avaunt, we cant nor won't have you 

 on our farm, hence we copy the above, which is 

 pretty exhaustive on the subject. Our friend Brag- 

 den knows whereof he speaks on this subject haviag 

 been brought up just over the border. — Ed. 



[From Country Gentleman and Cultivator.] 

 The Cureulio and the Pea Bug. 



On what does the cureulio feed ? I have seen 

 him perforating the plum leaf on the under side, 

 leaving a hole of the size of a small pin, entirely 

 through the leaf. Perhaps the sprinkling of lime 

 on plum tree leaves renders them distasteful to the 

 Turk. 



I have noticed various acts of the Cureulio — 

 making his m«rA, puttilig in |the egg — rising from 

 the sheet, on which he had tumbled, to the height 

 of 5 or 6 ft, and flying off in a bee-line one hundred 

 feet or more. The idea that he cannot rise to the 

 branches of a tree from the ground, appears to me 

 a great mistake. 



Shaking and Jarring. — What sort of feet have 

 these insects ? One day I had a cureulio in a com- 



