“ So far as known tho first specimens seen in the Arkansas 
Valley were discovered last year in the vicinity of Fowler, in the 
western part of this county. That they were there last year has 
been conclusively proven. It is numerous in the vicinity of Pueblo, 
then beginning near Nepesta, about 26 miles west of Rocky Ford, 
and extending east as far as 10 miles east of La Junta, making a 
continuous infested area of about four miles wide by 45 miles long, 
not counting Pueblo. A county organization 
has been formed and its members, over 100, are 
pledged to put forth every effort possible towards 
the destruction of this pest. Frank Bingham 
is the President of this society and F. A. Hunt- 
ley Secretary. The people here are fully aw^ake 
to the importance of destroying the Russian 
thistle. The railroads have been doing good 
work.” 
Accompanying Mr. Huntley^s letter, were 
letters from officials of the Atchison, Topeka & 
Santa Fe, and the Missouri Pacific Railroad 
Companies, advising him that instructions had 
been issued to section men to cut and burn all 
Russian thistles found on the right-of-way. 
These letters manifest a cordial desire to co-oper¬ 
ate with the farmers, and it w^ould seem that 
everything possible is being done to eradicate 
the plant from the Arkansas Valley, or at least 
from Otero County. 
Two practical questions appear in most of 
the letters of inquiry received by this depart¬ 
ment : First, How can the Russian thistle be 
distinguished from other plants ? Second, How 
can it be exterminated? In those localities 
where the plant is abundant, farmers have 
learned, or will learn this fall by personal con¬ 
tact, the answer to the first question. But there 
are yet many who have not seen the plant to 
know it, and it will not be out of place to dwell 
briefly upon its characteristics. As is the case 
with most of our weeds, the Russian thistle 
varies greatly, according to the conditions which surround it. 
Isolation, rich soil, and plenty of water induce large plants; crowd¬ 
ing by other plants, poor soil, and extreme drouth produce small 
plants. With variations in size are also variations in habit of 
growth; two plants may have the same dimensions as to height and 
spread, and yet be very different in general aspect; the one grown 
under favorable conditions will be oval, or possibl}^ almost globular 
