495 
American Agriculturist, May 24, 1924 
Killing Weeds With Dust 
Only An Experiment—But It Looks Good 
W HAT would By W. 
happen to 
American cartoonists if the farm boy’s 
perennial job of having to pull weeds 
when the fish are biting best in the 
creek near the “Old Swimmin’ Hole” 
ceased to exist? Supposing he could 
spend a short time walking up and down 
the garden or corn field early in the 
morning and then spend the rest of the 
long day enjoying himself at some other 
tasks or play, wouldn’t the question of 
the millennium be raised again with all its 
force and intensity? 
No, all this isn’t the idle dreaming of 
some misguided individual but the 
beginning of suggestion of things that are 
on the way to become an actual reality. 
The day of weed pulling—or rather the 
pulling of weeds of certain types and 
varieties—will in time be relegated to the 
background along with the cradle and the 
sickle. Experiments and trials carried out 
by the writer last summer point to the 
use of certain dusting materials as the 
successor to the farm boy and elbow 
grease as a weed eradicator, in some parts 
of New York State at least. 
Solutions First Used 
For a long time it has been known 
that a solution of iron sulphate and water 
sprayed on to young mustard when the 
first four leaves are showing will kill a 
large percentage of the mustard and at 
the same time the oats or corn will be but 
little affected. Copper sulphate has been 
used in much the same manner and also 
with beneficial results. The making of 
the solutions has been such a laborious 
process, and the securing of the proper 
rigging for the spraying job has been so 
expensive that many have been deterred 
from using this method of eradicating the 
mustard from their crops. 
In the old days when farm help was 
plentiful and cheap the mustard was kept 
from spreading on many farms by the 
original and primitive method of pulling 
—all hands spending some time in going 
over the corn and grain fields each year 
and removing any mustard plants that 
might be found. Some farmers, however, 
never got around to take this precaution 
so there were always spots of infection 
where the mustard kept its hold and in 
this way succeeded in keeping the careful 
farmer continually on the hunt in order to 
preserve his own acres from this marauder. 
With the labor question entering more 
and more into the problem the mustard 
has gradually gotten a foothold on many 
farms w r here for many years it had been 
kept under control. Many farmers looked 
at the spraying methods as a possible 
means of relief, but even where this was 
tried for a time, as in certain sections of 
Jefferson County, New York State, it was 
finally discarded, mainly for the reasons 
mentioned above. 
The New Idea of Dust 
The sight of fields of oats and even of 
corn, almost completely yellow with the 
blossoms of wild mustard, or charlock as 
it is known in some sections, has gotten to 
be a familiar sight in the early days of 
summer or late days of spring. To the 
writer, as county agricultural agent, this 
yellow wave had an ominous appearance, 
both as to its effect on the yield of the 
crop in which it was growing, and on the 
markets which would ultimately be closed 
to the products from those same acres. 
Successful use of dusts in place of 
sprays for the control of potato troubles 
and fruit diseases and insects lead to the 
question why not dusts for controlling 
weeds too. So the problem was taken to 
H. A. Van Orden, field representative for 
the Niagara Sprayer Company, and 
discussed. As a result of this discussion a 
special dust that was being used by the 
company was utilized for experiments to 
be carried out in the North Country, by 
file farm bureau and the company 
cooperating. 
I. ROE It was with many 
questionings and 
hopes that the writer started the first set 
of trials early one morning in June, while 
the young mustard plants were struggling 
with the oat plants for a breath of air and 
a glimpse of sunlight. The dust was 
applied with a simple plunger type of 
blowgun but the diffusion was efficient, 
and the strips where the material was put 
on showed a slight color after being gone 
over. 
All kinds of conditions were worked 
under, in an effort to have the trials as 
varied as possible, and to insure a fair 
field to the materials used, as well as 
having everything entirely on a practical 
and workable basis. 
The Mustard Disappeared 
When the time came for the mustard 
to become a beautiful yellow the acres of 
oats that had not been dusted were as 
usual a wonderful flower garden, but there 
were strips that showed a dark green 
color—the color of oats in a very healthy 
condition. Wherever the dust had been 
applied the mustard had taken its de¬ 
parture leaving the oat plants in sole 
possession of the field. 
Another application was made at this 
time on portions of the field that were 
yellow. A week later the mustard plants 
were shriveled and dying, and the seed 
pods that formed on the lower parts of the 
plants were also withered. This showed 
that the dust would work after the plants 
were rapidly approaching maturity, and 
that the period of time for destroying this 
pest is considerably* longer than has been 
commonly considered the case. 
Best Results After Dew 
The results of the different trials 
showed that the best results were secured 
when the dew was still on the plants and 
the wind not blowing, although partial 
control of the weed was secured even with 
the high wind and the plants entirely dry 
at the time of application. No record 
was kept as to the effect of the eradication 
of the mustard on the total yield of oats, 
as the affii was to find out whether the 
dusting material would effectively 7 kill the 
mustard under different conditions and at 
various stages of grow'th. 
Another interesting thing that came to 
light was the discovery that the foliage 
and plants of Canadian thistle and rag 
weed were also killed by the application 
of the material. Lambs quarter was not 
injured to any’ extent, and no damage 
was done to the oat plants beyond a 
slight discoloration of parts of a few 
leaves where a very heavy dose happened 
to land. The quantity of dust used 
varied from ten to tw r enty pounds and as 
the cost in small quantities is about 
twenty cents per pound the cost is com¬ 
paratively small. A knapsack duster 
with a wide nozzle can cover a wide strip 
at a time, and that enables a man walking 
along to do a good job with a minimum 
amount of time and effort. For large 
areas a horse power machine could be 
used. 
To Continue the Experiments 
So important were the results of these 
trials to the farmers of the North Country 
that the officers of the Jefferson County 
Farm Bureau have decided to carry on 
these trials again in 1924 on a much larger 
scale, and commissioned the new comity 
agent, O. G. Agne, to spend considerable 
time in working them through to a 
thoroughly local application. The dust 
will also be used on canning peas in large 
trials to test out its efficacy in controlling 
weeds in that crop. Only one trial was 
carried through last year but it proved 
very satisfactory according to W. A. 
Mather—the farmer who was growing the 
peas, and County Agent Roe, who initiated 
the work. 
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