292 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[July, 
A Pernicious Weed—Bind-Weed. 
Some weeds are so unattractive in appear¬ 
ance, that they are at once regarded with 
suspicion and exterminated. But with 
weeds, we cannot always judge by appear¬ 
ances; some are pleasing in foliage, and even 
beautiful in flower, while their root is work¬ 
ing unseen mischief. The 
Bind - weed (Convolvulus 
arvensis), as our engraving, 
of nearly the natural size, 
shows, is a miniature Morn¬ 
ing-glory, and also a really 
handsome little plant. It 
has long been known in 
England as one of the most 
troublesome weeds. It was 
mentioned in ‘'American 
Weeds and Useful Plants ” 
(1859), as a plant from 
which trouble might be 
expected. The anticipated 
trouble has now begun; 
within a short time we 
have had complaints from 
a farmer in Connecticut 
that it is in his meadows; 
we have heard of it on the 
banks of the Hudson, and 
one of the editors of the 
American Agriculturist has 
discovered that in setting 
a new strawberry bed, he 
also introduced this with 
his strawberry plants. At 
the police head-quarters, 
when they catch a suspect¬ 
ed person, he is made to 
sit for his portrait, and if 
unable to prove anything 
against him, they let him 
go, and his picture goes 
into the “ Rogue’s Gal¬ 
lery ” for future reference. 
We can prove something 
against this plant, but we 
give its portrait in order 
that it may be recognized 
on its first appearance. 
Herein consists the most 
important part of the fight 
with weeds: Knowing the enemy at first 
sight, and attacking at once, while in a 
weak condition, and preventing its spread. 
The first thing to be done, when the Bind¬ 
weed is recognized, as it surely will be when 
it flowers, is to prevent any of those flowers 
from producing seeds—cut and bum, and one 
source of mischief will he stopped. Then 
the established plant is to be attacked, and 
we should say that its stems, 3 feet or more 
long, run upon whatever plants may be near, 
and by twining around grain, etc., gets the 
name, Bind-weed : in England it is also called 
“ Com-bind ” and “ With-wind.” It is amus¬ 
ing to read some of the accounts of this 
plant written in England half a century ago, 
apparently to show that it cannot be exter¬ 
minated. Now we do not believe that there 
is a plant, or ever will be one, which, by 
thorough, frequent and persistent cutting, 
may not be exterminated. The trouble is, 
that the work is but half done. We have 
positive knowledge of the successful fighting 
of a vastly worse weed than this—but the 
fight was earnest. If this weed appears, 
and is established, cut it once a week—every 
day—eveiy hour—or—as often as may be 
needed to keep down all stem and leaf 
growth, if it requires a man to stand over it 
all the time, and the plant must die. There 
can be no increase of the plant without 
leaves; keep off the leaves. It takes longer 
to subdue some plants than others, but it 
will succeed just as certainly as a garrison 
may in time be starved out, by cutting off 
all supplies from without. With plants the 
supply can only come from the leaves. 
More Feed Wanted for Cows. —It 
is reported of that extraordinary milker, 
“The Queen of Barnet,” that she made 746 
pounds of butter in a year, and that her daily 
rations were four quarts of bran, four quarts 
of ground oats, three quarts of corn meal, 
eight quarts of carrots, and all the good hay 
she could eat. The yield of butter is at least 
four times the average of good dairy herds, 
who have merely good hay in winter, and 
good pasture in summer. What is extra in 
the feed of this cow, is the bran, oat meal, 
corn meal, and carrots, worth on the farm 
where they are raised, about 20 cents daily. 
This extra feed for a year is not far from 
$73. The extra amount of butter would 
be 560 lbs., worth at one-third of a dollar a 
pound, $186. Deducting cost of extra feed, 
$73, it would leave $113, as the profit of high 
feeding. Very few cows on our farms are 
full fed, especially in winter, and the impres¬ 
sion is so general, that it will not pay to do 
it, that it is very difficult to get farmers to 
make experiments in this direction. Steel¬ 
yards are cheap, and the rations above noticed! 
are within the reach of most dairy farmers. 
Try the experiment of extra feed on one of 
your best butter cows, and. see the result. 
Layering the Grape-Vine. 
While many varieties of the grape will 
grow readily from cuttings planted in the 
open ground, others need to be placed in a 
propagating house, where they can have 
bottom heat, and a few varieties can hardly 
be grown from cuttings at all, but must be 
layered. Layering consists in burying a por¬ 
tion of a cane in the soil, in order that it 
may strike root while it is yet attached to 
the parent vine; when a sufficient number of 
roots have formed, it is cut away from the 
old vine and set out as an independent 
plant. This method is of necessity employed 
by the nurseryman for those varieties that 
will not readily grow from cuttings, and ir 
offers to the amateur the most certain means 
for the propagation of all vines, as he does 
not care to multiply them in large numbers. 
The best method of layering is to use in 
early spring a cane that grew and ripened 
the previous season; but the time for this 
has now gone by, and if one has a vine from 
which he wishes to obtain a new plant or 
two, he can do it by layering the shoots of 
the present season’s growth. The shoots for 
this purpose should be those which start near 
the base of the vine, which have been al¬ 
lowed to grow for the purpose. They will 
usually be hard enough by mid-summer, for 
if layered when too soft and green, they 
might decay. Having ascertained, by ex¬ 
tending the shoot, the best place for burying 
a portion of it, dig a hole with the spade, 
and carefully bend the shoot, in order that a 
part of it may be buried to the depth of six 
inches or more, cutting away all the leaves 
from the buried portion. Press the earth 
firmly down over the stem, and tie the por¬ 
tion which extends above ground to a stake. 
It is well to put a mulch of some kind over 
the layered portion; litter will answer, but 
there is nothing more effective to retain the 
moisture than a few flat stones. Usually 
abundant roots will be formed by aut umn , 
when the new plant may be severed from 
the old one, or it may be left until early the 
following spring. The engraving shows the 
layer in autumn, after the leaves have fallen. 
In severing the new plant from the old one, 
take care to cut it in such a manner as to 
leave all the roots attached to the layer. 
Layering allows one to readily propagate a 
large variety of plants. The grape-vine 
roots so readily that it is not necessary to 
“ tongue ” it, in order to induce roots to form, 
but with hard-wooded shrubs generally, it is 
necessary to cut the layered portion about 
half-way through, with a long sloping cut, to 
form what is called a tongue, and this is 
best done on the upper side of the layer, in¬ 
stead of on the lower, as is usually advised- 
the bind-weed (Convolvulus arvensis). 
