164 HEARINGS BEFORE COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE. 
twelve or fourteen years ago near Washington, over in Virginia. A 
gentleman out there, who afterwards became a member of the Vir- 
ginia legislature, had this vineyard, and we asked him for permission 
to treat it. We ran a block through the center of it in one direc- 
tion, and then in the opposite direction, and we treated 2 acres. The 
understanding was that he should sell the fruit, and keep a strict 
account of the results of the untreated portions. And the result was 
that he did not get a cent from the untreated portion, and he got $60 
from the treated portion. Then he came around the next spring and 
wanted to know if we were going to treat his vineyard again. We 
said, ‘‘No; we have demonstrated that you can have acrop.” He said, 
“T would like you to show me. how,” and that was just after we had 
done it right there before him and he had seen it. The next year, 
however, he did understand how it was done, and after that other 
people adopted his methods. I have often said that you could plaster 
bulletins 6 inches deep over the farms throughout the country, and it 
would not have the same effect as some of these actual visible experi- 
ments would have that are shown before their eyes. 
Mr. Srrriman. There are some cases, for instance, where a man may 
be nominated for office. It ought to be simply necessary for that man 
to write out his convictions and send the document out among the 
people. But experience shows that that alone will not do. A man 
must go before the people and get acquainted with them and get their 
confidence. 
Mr. Havcen. Have you beenexperimenting with the Russian thistle? 
Mr. Srittman. No; I have not attacked the general weed problem. 
I have attacked Johnson grass because it is an important grass rather 
than because it is a weed. We wanted to know how to control it, so 
as to be able to handle it. I know of rich land in the South that has 
been abandoned. I have a cousin in Texas who owns a magnificent 
farm, and he simply moved off his farm because it was infested with 
Johnson grass. Now, if the man has Johnson grass we teach him how 
to utilize it and make money out of it. 
Mr. Lams. What do you do with it? 
Mr. Srrtiman. Make hay out of it. 
Mr. Lever. Is it not good for pasturing purposes? 
Mr. Sprttman. Yes; and it yields a fertilizer. 
‘ ipa CHAIRMAN. How do you call it a weed, then, when it is good 
or Day = 
Mr. Sprtiman. Because when it gets on a farm it gradually spreads 
until pretty soon nearly every acre in the place is full of Johnson 
grass. 
‘ ae Scorr. How does it compare in nutritive value with prairie 
ay? 
Mr. Sprtitman. Oh, it is away ahead. The difficulty is that the 
farmer can not tell when the grass has made seed. He is not acquainted 
with the floral organ. If the Johnson grass is chopped out before it 
makes seed, there is no trouble about destroying it; but the farmers 
uvelly do not know this, and it is a very dangerous thing to have on 
a farm. 
Mr. HavcEn. Does not the Department have a bureau that attends 
to weeds generally ? 
Mr. Sprutman. Yes; that is in another division. Mr Coville has 
that. I consider the Johnson-grass work and the alfa'fa work and 
