IMS 
THE RURAE NEW-YORKER 
«5t6© 
KILLING OUT WITCH GRASS. 
It. 0. It., Irviny, N. Y .—I have about an 
acre of land covered with quack grass. It 
has had cultivated crops for at least two 
years, the last being potatoes, but a good 
deal of the grass still remains. Would it 
bo well to sow vetch, or would you advise 
some cultivated crop ? 
Ans. —We would advise another culti¬ 
vated crop, keeping it thoroughly hoed, 
so as to destroy the grass whenever it 
appears. This grass propagates in two 
ways, by seed and by underground stems, 
new plants coming up from the joints. 
It is necessary in order to kill it out 
either to destroy the roots or absolutely 
to prevent any growth above ground. 
Various methods are suggested for do¬ 
ing this. In some cases sheep are turned 
into the field, a much larger flock than 
could live upon the grass. These sheep 
are fed some grain. They nibble off 
every blade of the grass as it appears 
above ground, and this constant nibbling 
and tramping of the soil prevents growth. 
If this was thoroughly done the grass 
will die out, as it cannot live if all 
growth is destroyed. In other cases 
much the same result is obtained by 
sowing thickly such crops as buckwheat, 
barley and other grain. These make a 
dense mat on the ground, and shade or 
smother out most of the grass. They 
do not usually kill it all, however, and 
this leaves plants which spread and fill 
the ground again. Other ways of fight¬ 
ing the grass are through thorough till¬ 
age. For this purpose a tool like the 
disk or Cutaway, or a spring-tooth har¬ 
row is used. These rip and tear up the 
ground, break off the underground roots 
and bring them to the surface where 
they are killed by sun and air, or they 
may be raked to one side and burned. 
This process will get rid of the grass in 
time, provided these tools are thoroughly 
used whenever the grass starts. 
In a little book entitled “Practical Po¬ 
tato Culture,” by E. A. Rogers, there is 
a very clear description of the way 
Maine farmers operate. Mr. Rogers de¬ 
scribes the plan of subduing a New 
England witch-grass sod, and the pest 
is probably as bad in New England as 
it can be anywhere. In Maine such sod 
is used for planting potatoes, a practice 
not common in other parts of the coun¬ 
try. Mr. Rogers says that witch grass, 
the same as quack or couch or twitch, is 
one of the greatest curses to New Eng¬ 
land agriculture, and yet a great bless¬ 
ing, because when a tough sod of this 
character is once properly prepared it 
makes an ideal place for potatoes. To 
subdue a field of this kind, the work is 
begun right after haying; this is because 
at that time the plants have made most 
of their Summer growth, and are in an 
exhausted condition. As soon as the 
hay is cut the Cutaway harrow is start¬ 
ed, and plowing should not be done until 
the harrow has thoroughly killed out the 
ough and intense culture rye can be 
seeded if desired, but the main point is 
to spend the late Summer and early Fall 
constantly chopping and stirring up that 
old sod, so as to drive out the roots of 
the witch grass where they will be sub¬ 
ject to air and sun. Then as soon as 
the soil can be worked in the Spring the 
harrow is started again all ways through 
the field, working as before as deep 
into the soil as the harrow can be put. 
After this thorough working the field 
is ready to be plowed deeply, and then 
worked again with a Cutaway, until it 
KILLING OUT A SOD OF WITCH GRASS. Fig. 150. 
sod. The disks are ground as sharp as 
possible, and the harrow heavily weight¬ 
ed down, making it so heavy if possible 
that three or four horses will be neces¬ 
sary to handle it, although two good- 
sized ones will take care of it without 
the extra weight. The field is gone over 
both lengthwise and crosswise, cutting 
as deep as the harrow can be made to 
work. This is kept up at least once a 
week right through the season, or when¬ 
ever any of the roots show signs of 
sprouting. This work is kept up even 
through October if any green growth 
appears in the field. After this thor¬ 
is thoroughly pulverized. A picture 
showing how this Fall work is done is 
shown at Fig. 150. As will be seen, the 
teeth of the harrow are tearing the sod 
into fragments. In nearly all cases this 
chopping will pay whenever sod is to be 
plowed under. 
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THE H. L. HURST MFG. COMP ANT. 
\ 281 North St., Canton, Ohio. 
FIFTY YEARS’ UNPARALLELED RECORD, BOTH IN THE FIELD AND WITH THE EXPERIMENT STATIONS 
THE MAPES MANURES 
ABSOLUTELY CHOICEST OF MATERIALS, SEASONING, AND BEST METHODS OF MANUFACTURE 
AVAILABILITY WITHOUT ACIDITY NO ROCK OR ACID PHOSPHATES USED 
IN THE FIELD 
The record of The Mapes Manures in the field is too well known among our thousands of customers and friends, and with us we 
are glad to say the terms are practically interchangeable, as most of our good old customers have become our friends to require more than 
a reference to it. 
WITH THE EXPERIMENT STATIONS 
We are equally proud of our Record with the Stations. There may at times have been an occasional chance analysis which was 
not quite what we would have liked to have seen, and not as we believe fairly representative of our goods, but with the grand average we 
have no fault to find. 
This is in spite of the fact that Station methods and valuations from the very nature of the case must be broadly general to ap¬ 
ply to the general average of the class of goods examined, and can therefore never be expected to do entire justice to the user of particularly 
choice materials and unusual methods of manufacture. 
From the Annual Report of the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, FERTILIZERS, 1912: 
“MAPES FORMULA AND PERUVIAN GUANO CO.’S fifteen brands all fully meet their guarantees, with the exception of No. 553, in which a 
deficiency of 0.37 per cent, of Potash is fully offset by an overrun of 0.7 per cent. Nitrogen.” 
So strong a statement is not and could not be made of any firm which had an equal or greater number of brands. 
From Annual Bulletin No. 143, December , 1912 , Massachusetts Agricultural Experiment Station. Inspection of Commercial Fertilizers: 
(It publishes a table giving summary of results of analysis of complete fertilizers as compared with manufacturers’ guarantees). 
“MAPES FORMULA AND PERUVIAN GUANO CO. Number of brands analyzed, 18; number equal to guarantee in commercial value, 18.’’ 
That is, every one of The Mapes Brands are found to be equal to their guarantee in commercial value, and of no other company 
having an equal or a greater number of brands can this be said. 
It publishes another table bearing on the Nitrogen in the different brands analyzed. The Mapes F. & P. G. Co. show 90.26% 
as their percentage Activity of Total Nitrogen, which is the essential point. No other concern having an equal number or greater 
number of brands analyzed has anything like so high a percentage Activity of Total Nitrogen. 
It is unnecessary to say that The Mapes Manures have always been, and will always continue to be, while under the same man¬ 
agement, far above the average of fertilizers offered for sale. 
In speaking of this management, it is certainly interesting that not only have the Mapescs continued successively in the business 
lor three generations, grandfather, father and son, but the Lanes, who have been associated with the Mapeses from the start, follow the 
same identical record in the business, grandfather, father and son, successively, and we ask—can our friends and customers have a better 
guarantee than this family management that everything has been done and will continue to be done to make the Mapes Manures as good 
as the present knowledge of fertilizer science permits for the crops for which they are intended. 
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THE MAPES FORMULA & PERUVIAN GUANO COMPANY, 143 Liberty St., New York 
