- 11 — 
they will harbor a sufficient crop of weeds to again seed his fields, 
and he makes no progress toward their extermination. Attention to 
I the outside localities enumerated is one of the greatest factors in the 
problem of weed extermination ; very many farmers do not seem to 
appreciate its importance, as is apparent from the too common sight 
of well-tilled fields bordered by rank growth of a variety of weeds. 
In some cases there is a possible reason for the neglect in the want of 
co-operation on the part of the owners of adjoining property. If 
a farmer is so unfortunate as to be surrounded by unoccupied lands 
owned by non-residents, or if his neighbors are of the careless, shift¬ 
less class, he is quite likely to confine his own labor to the land he 
occupies with crops, and considers himself fortunate if he can keep 
these clean. Co-operation,dsTn many things an advantage ; in the 
matter of weeds it is an absolute necessity. Individual effort amounts 
to nothing. The residents of a neighborhood must be of one mind, 
and must act in concert, in order that lasting good may be accom¬ 
plished. A very few years of concerted, well-directed action will solve 
the weed problem for any district; but can this voluntary united ac¬ 
tion be brought about ? It may be possible in some districts, but ob¬ 
servation and experience indicate that there are many difficulties in 
the way; difficulties that in some cases would be insurmountable. 
There are in every irrigated valley tracts of non-resident land ; there 
are areas on occupied farms lying above the ditches, areas useless for 
eropping but abundantly able to produce weeds ; there are railway 
and canal lines, each with its more or less broad right-of-way. In the 
aggregate, a considerable area where weeds are, as a rule, totally 
neglected. It is difficult, if not impossible, to secure the voluntary 
co-operation of all corporation or non-resident land owners in the de¬ 
struction of weeds—a matter involving labor or the expenditure of 
money; but perfectly effective warfare against weeds cannot be car¬ 
ried on until all lands involved are looked after with equal care. 
There would be manifest injustice in asking or expecting farmers to 
keep the unoccupied lands of their neighbors free from weeds, and it 
seems equally unjust to require them to combat on their own lands 
the weeds which periodically come to them from the neglected lands 
around them. 
Some, at least, of the railway companies operating in Colorado 
are ready and willing to co-operate in a war against weeds. We have 
already referred to the action of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe 
and the Missouri Pacific Companies in the Arkansas Valley, and we 
are informed that the Burlington & Missouri River Company has 
been taking active measures against the Russian thistle on its line. 
A railway company, viewing a right-of-way from a business stand¬ 
point, would desire it kept clean and made as attractive as possible, 
but there is no encouragement to pay particular attention to weeds if 
the line must pass through fields that are entirely neglected. To de¬ 
mand of a. corporation the extermination of weeds on a right-of-way 
