422 
Destruction  of  Thistles. 
a very  encouraging  and  complimentary  review  of  the  way  in 
which  we  have  improved  our  purely  technical  education  in 
England  during  the  past  ten  years,  and  he  maintains  that  we 
have  quite  regained  the  leading  position  in  that  branch  of 
education  as  far  as  the  upper  skilled  artisans  and  commercial 
men  are  concerned.  This  is  encouraging,  but  we  are  still 
far  behind  other  nations  in  the  practical  manual  instruction 
given  in  ordinary  rural  schools.  There  is  a striking  paragraph 
in  the  Report  of  the  Royal  Commission  on  the  Poor  Law  : — 
“ Much  evidence  has  been  submitted  that  the  present  system 
of  elementary  education  is  not  adapted  to  the  wants  of  an 
industrial  country.”  “ It  is  not  in  the  interest  of  the  country 
to  produce  by  our  system  of  education  a dislike  of  manual 
work  and  a taste  for  clerical  and  intermittent  work  when  the 
majority  of  those  so  educated  must  maintain  themselves  by 
manual  work.” 
C.  T. 
Destruction  of  Thistles. — It  is  notorious  that,  whenever  the 
thistle  {Garduus  arvensis)  comes  up  for  discussion  among 
farmers,  views  are  expressed  which  show  divergences  of  opinion 
that  can  hardly  be  exceeded  in  the  case  of  any  other  subject 
likely  to  be  debated.  Professor  Hedworth  Foulkes  is  there- 
fore to  be  congratulated  on  having,  during  the  last  three  years, 
carried  out  experiments  on  the  extermination  of  this  pest  at  the 
Harper-Adams  Agricultural  College,  over  which  he  presides. 
On  a grass  field  belonging  to  the  College,  and  which  had 
been  regularly  grazed  with  mixed  stock,  the  common  creeping 
thistle  was  very  plentiful.  In  1907  trial  plots  were  laid  out, 
and  dealt  with  as  described  in  the  following  extract  : — 
The  first  two  years  the  plots  were  treated  as  follows  : — 
Plot  1. — Thistles  cut  three  times  in  the  season  and  dressed  with  4 cwt. 
common  salt  after  each  cutting.  (Cut  .June  10,  July  9,  and  17). 
Plot  la. — Thistles  cut  three  times  in  season,  not  salted. 
Plot  2. — Thistles  cut  once  in  season  and  dressed  with  4 cwt.  salt  at  time  of 
cutting. 
Plot  2a. — Thistles  cut  once  in  season,  not  salted. 
Plot  3. — Not  cut,  but  headed  with  stick  to  prevent  seeding,  and  dressed 
with  4 cwt.  salt  at  same  time. 
Plot  3a. — Not  cut,  but  headed. 
Plot  4. — Cut  once  and  sprayed  with  sulphate  of  copper. 
Plot  4a. — Uncut,  but  headed  with  stick  and  sprayed  with  sulphate  of 
copper. 
In  1909  the  use  of  sulphate  of  copper  was  discontinued,  and  plots  3a  and  4a 
were  cut  three  times,  while  in  the  case  of  plots  1 and  la,  there  were  practically 
no  thistles  present  for  the  third  cutting. 
Principal  Foulkes  has  been  kind  enough  to  communicate 
the  following  remarks  concerning  the  results  obtained.  Before 
these  notes  are  read,  it  may  be  well  to  emphasise  the  fact  that 
