MEADOWS AND PASTURES 49 
on short branches near the ground. ‘They must be 
treated as the ordinary perennials. 
Ordinary perennial weeds must be cut off below 
the crown. This requires the use of the hoe, the spud, 
or, where very numerous, the turning-plow, which, of 
course, means reseeding the meadow or pasture. 
Perennials with underground stems are the most diff- 
cult to deal with. Quack-grass (Fig. 8), Johnson 
grass, and Canada thistle belong in this class. The 
surest way to kill them is to harrow out as large a 
proportion of the roots as possible, and then summer- 
fallow the land, running over it as often as the weeds 
get.a start with some implement that shaves off a layer 
of the top soil. Weeds of this class that do not grow 
very tall may be smothered out by such dense growing 
crops as millet, buckwheat, sorghum (sown thick), 
etc. Such weeds may also be killed by cutting them 
back so frequently that they have no chance to manu- 
facture and store up food enough in their underground 
stems to keep them alive. 
The weeds which infest grass-lands vary in differ- 
ent sections. Inthe North, whiteweed (Zv7igeron phila- 
delphicus) is one of the most troublesome. In pastures 
this can be held in check by mowing, but when a 
meadow bécomes infested with it the best remedy is 
to plow it up. Sorrel (Rumex acetosella) is probably- 
the next most troublesome weed in grass-lands in the 
North. It-is particularly troublesome in old grass- 
lands, and its presence is believed to indicate an acid 
condition of the soil. A good application of lime, to 
correct acidity, and manure or fertilizer to produce a 
vigorous growth of the grasses and clovers, is said to 
