<Ih< R w K A L NEW-YORKER 
i’71 
1 
How to Kill Witch Grass 
Methods in New York State 
D IFFERING VIEWS.—On page 112S was an 
article by ('. O. Ormsbee with tne above title 
of course in different sections of the country there 
arc different conditions of soil and climate, and it 
may be that where Mr. Ormsbee lives is method 
would work, but here in Northern New fork there 
would be little result. The method he gives as the 
best for general uss is to plow deep and sow corn 
broadcast. By the way, m answer to the query as 
to how to coyer all the corn, the best way to sow 
corn broadcast is to use a grain drill and leave all 
the hoes open. This may not appeal to sc ne people 
s;s being broadcast, but as 2 to 214 bushels per acre 
is the amour* given, each kernel would ha* e to be 
about eight inches from every other, and most drills 
are seven-inon or eight-inch drills. It the season 
wore such that the quack nakes a very small growth 
before corn pin dug time, and then immediately 
after sowing the grain it turned very hot, so as to 
give the corn a very quick, strong stair, I think the 
method would undoubtedly weaken the quack, hut 
if the quack had made a strong growth early in the 
season, there would he too much vegetation between 
the furrow slice and the soil underneath to furnish 
the best growing conditions foi the corn, and if it 
remained cool for two or three weeks after the corn 
was sown, that would be plenty for the quack. In 
my section such conditions occur tliree-quaiteis oi 
the time. Mr. Ormsbee also states that the com 
would have to he harvested w itli 
sickles. I should hardly like the job r 
of tackling 20 acres or more with a 
sickle, and it would certainly he irn 
possible to get help to do it. Even i 
it were possible, at i>0 cents to <0 cents 
an hour, one’s silage would cost plenty 
and the quality would be poor. I think 
that it would usually he possible to 
harvest it with a grain hinder, how¬ 
ever. I have been farming a good-siz 
farm for a number of years, and i have 
found by experience that quae k can be 
subdued, and that in the regular rota¬ 
tion. Furthermore, it does not take 
more work than should be put on the 
rops raised, although it does take more 
than the average farmer is willing or 
able to spend. 
FITTING FOR CORN.—My method 
has been to plow for corn late in the 
Fall, and to commence fitting the land 
very early in the Spring, and to fit at 
intervals, whenever the quack started to come up 
much, until it was warm enough to plant. These 
fittings would not average oftenei than once in two 
weeks, say twice before it. came time to plant the 
corn. Then about corn-planting time, tit the land 
thoroughly, and plant. Before the corn is up. gne 
one cultivation, following the marks. lhe com 
should oe planted in checks, not drilled. As soon 
ns tlie rows can he seen the corn should he carefully 
cultivated both ways, and thereafter at intervals 
of about 10 days until too large. This is no more 
cultivation than tlie corn needs, irrespective of the 
quack, but a good deal of corn never gets tills? much. 
This insures a good crop of corn, hut does not 
eradicate the quack. To eradicate this one should 
put a hoed crop or. the land tlie next year. I used 
potatoes, following the same procedure as in raising 
the corn, except that i -ras able to use a smoothing 
harrow more freely on the Tiotatoes than on the corn. 
THE POTATO METHOD.—ic ^s impossible thor¬ 
oughly to tear up a heavy quack sod the first time 
it is plowed, but the second time one can put a 
spring-tooth or other harrow in as deeply as the 
land is plowed, and in old land these tools will drag 
out the quack roots without breaking them much. 
Two hours in the sun finishes a quack root com¬ 
pletely. Then after the potato crop was done grow¬ 
ing I applied the potato digger. After this tool had 
passed, wagging its tail as it went, the few quack 
roots that had survived were left on top. perfectly 
clean and enjoying their little sun hath. If one does 
not raise potatoes, follow corn with corn. I have 
had about as good success in this way. This is 
especially the case since one gets another whack at 
the land when sowing grain tlie third season. By 
this time the laud is thoroughly mellow and every 
bit of it down to six or seven inches in depth can 
he reached by the spring-tooth, and from this time 
on, the land, if naturally in good heart, will raise 
heavy enough crops so that the quack never gets 
established. It will come in again in the manure, 
hut not so hadlv as before. 
PASTURING.—There are two other methods of 
eradicating the pest, one without work ut all, the 
other in three months. 'The first method is to pasture 
the land three years. It sheep are used, two years 
would probably suffice, but with cows two years 
will not completely clean the piece. Horses graze 
deed is done. Incidentally this is exactly the jc 
for the tractor. One can do the same thing without 
plowing, with the disk alone, but it is easier to plow 
first. ALBERT H. DE GBAFF. 
Jefferson Co., N. Y. 
Peach Flowers Emasculated and Bagged. Fig. Jf29 
more closely than cows and would clean up a piece 
quicker than they would. A friend once planted a 
piece of sandy soil to quack for pasture. Grass 
would not catch well on the land, so he had it 
plowed, and quack roots planted in the furrows. 
He got a fine stand of quack, but it did not last hut 
two years as pasture, all dying out the third year. 
THE HAY METHOD.—The other method is to 
Peach Trees Covered with Tents of Cheesecloth. Fig. IfSO 
cut a crop of hay from the piece from w' ieh the 
quack is to he eradicated. Then when the quack ; s 
in its weakest state, i. e.. immediately after having 
A Sheep Shearer with a Long Record. Fig. 31 
made a crop, to plow the piece three or four inches 
deep, and to fit the land at intervals the rest of the 
Summer and Fall. This is the driest time of the 
year, which is always the best time to kill weeds, 
especially grasses. The fitting is best done with a 
sbarp disk. After quack has been in a meadow two 
or three years, all the roots are in the top three or 
four inches of soil and if this sod is skinned off 
and repeatedly disked in dry, hot weather, the 
quack soon gives up the ghost entirely. Then late 
in the Fall the land should he plowed deep, and the 
Two Wheat Farmers 
T WO farmers of Kanawha County. West Virginia, 
sowed wheat last Fall, a year ago. or adjoin¬ 
ing farms. The land was practically the sail 3. being 
limestone with a good subsoil. C turned a clover 
sod the Winter previous, and after thoroughly 
preparing a deep seed bed lie planted the field, con¬ 
sisting of 13 acres, to corn tlie first of April. He 
grew a bumper crop of corn, which was estimated at 
SO bushels per acTe. This lie put in his silos from 
the first to tlie tenth of September. He immediately 
prepared this corn stubble for wheat hr plowing it 
deep, disking and dragging Then ,ie drilled IV, 
bushels of Fulc-aster wheat per acre, using 300 
pounds acid phosphate and 40 pounds potash in the 
drill per acre. When the wheat was sown, he rolled 
the land twice with heavy roller. He treated tlie 
seed with formaldehyde to prevent smut. In No¬ 
vember he went over hs wheac again with heavy 
roller. This, he said, lie did to prevent Winter 
freezing. I watched this wheat crop closely from 
sowing till harvested, and will say that it war hv 
far tlie best wlieatfield that I h i vs 3ver seen grow 
m West Virginia. While many deids c* heat in 
the neighborhood suffered . ess. from Winter 
freezing, liis field did _ 2 r at all and the grain 
when tdrachec was large, fine and 
plum A-.iS wheat crop averaged 39 
bushels 2 . acre and 95 per cent of the 
grain wem ■ the mark-: as A No. t. 
B sowed o'" wheat on corn stubble 
also, but as he as no silo lie waited for 
his corn t. nature thoroughly and then 
li~ r •; and put it into shocks. This 
as October 5. Naturally enough he 
was behind and in a hurry, and so he 
ran a drag harrow over the stubble 
and drilled a bushel and a peck to the 
acre, without fertilizer. This land had 
been cultivated in tobacco before the 
corn crop, and had received no kind of 
fertilizer except a few loads of barn 
litter in tlie poorest spots. The wheat 
was of the bearded variety with a 
quantity of cheat in it. He did not 
roll this field at all. as lie argues that 
it is only a waste of time to do so! 
There were IS 14 acres in B’s field. I 
also had the opportunity to watch this 
crop. It was damaged fully 15 per cent by winter- 
killing. So poorly did it grow that there were patches 
all over the field that were never cut. and when 
thrashed it yielded 7% bu. of small-grained wheat 
Per acre. B maintains that he is just naturally un¬ 
lucky in growing wheat, which, of course, is true! 
V\ e will follow up tlie system of those two farmers. 
When liis wheat was harvested, C turned the stubble 
and sowed the field to rape for his fine bunch of 
Duroc swine, and in October he plowed, harrowed 
and sowed it to rye. This furnished excellent pasture 
for his cattle during the dry spells through February 
and March. The rye, which was a ve:v heavy crop, 
was turned under and tlie field sown to Crimson 
clover late in May. B plowed and planted part of 
his wheat stubble to late corn, part in sorghum for 
feed, and part in late potatoes. 
C’s wheat crop yielded 507 bu. anc’ sold for $2.25 
per bu.. $1,130.75. He estimated that the rape was 
worth $300 for his hogs. The pasture from tlie rye 
paid for the seed and sowing, and his land was in 
much better condition. B’s wheat crop yielded 144 
bu. and sold on tlie market for $2.02 per bu., which 
brought him $290.SS. His corn, potatoes and sorghum 
brought him approximately $350. Anyone who can 
figure the least bit can see why C has a big bank ac¬ 
count and a modern home, while B is not quite out 
of debt yet! This is not a fable, hut rather cold 
facts, put down as it really happened, and is, in my 
judgment, a great object lesson for most of us farm¬ 
ers. j. w. K. 
West Virginia. 
A Sheep-shearing Record 
W HERE is there one other man in New York 
State who can claim a record of taking off 
00,000 tleeces during a lifetime? Such is the record 
1 1’ Frederick West, of Wayne County, shown in Fig. 
431 at work on fleece No. 02,601 on the farm of Ira 
Allen, one of the largest sheep raisers of his dis¬ 
trict. Mr. West began as a shepherd at the age of 
10 years in Sled mere. Yorkshire, England, and, at 
