210 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
ilarch  8,  1900. 
of  suiniiier  annuals,  that  cost  the  farmer  infinite  time  and  mcney  to 
get  rid  of. 
Thera  aie  certain  weeds  peculiar  to  certain  districts  and  also  to 
certain  seasons.  On  some  lands  “  dodder  ”  is  a  serious  trouble,  and 
spreading  as  it  does  with  great  rapidity  it  is  very  difficult  to  deal 
with.  Beautiful  as  it  may  be  in  the  eye  of  a  poet  to  see  a  cornfield 
brightened  by  the  Poppy,  the  farmer  finds  it  anything  but  pleasing, 
and  it  remains  an  eyesore  all  the  season,  and  is  a  standing  joke  with 
his  fellow  farmers.  There  is  another  colour  that  catches  and  holds 
the  eye,  and  that  is  yellow.  Poppies  may  be  destroyed  by  timely 
harrowing,  but  (he  seed  of  the  Charlock,  being  more  or  less  oily,  will 
remain  buried,  and  then  spring  up  to  full  life  and  activity  when  least 
expected.  It  is  the  spring  corn  that  suffers  from  Charlock,  and  if  we 
could  only  get  the  Charlock  to  start  its  growth  before  putting  in  the 
seed  we  could  combat  the  enemy.  The  plants  in  an  early  stage  are 
easily  killed.  As  the  plant  usually  appears  simultaneously  with  the 
tender  corn  we  are  in  a  difficulty.  A  good  harrowing  is  the  remedy 
but  possibly  the  season  is  one  when  we  fairly  dare  not  harrow* 
fSpring  corn  will  not  stand  the  knocking  about  that  Wheat  will. 
Of  course  the  old-fashioned  plan  was  to  pull  out  the  Charlock 
in  the  flowering  stage.  That  was  most  effectual,  but  also  most  costly. 
We  cannot  get  the  labour  now,  nor  can  we  find  the  money  to  pay 
for  that  labour.  An  old  hand  will  bear  in  mind  a  field  that  is 
subject  to  this  pest,  and  will  contrive  so  to  crop  it  as  to  give  the  hoes 
every  chance  ;  but  that  often  throws  the  whole  course  of  the 
farmer  out. 
“  Spraying  ”  is  not  altogether  a  new  idea.  We  have  seen  it  used 
to  combat  disease  in  Vines,  disease  in  Potatoes;  the  Hopgardens  of 
Kent  have  long  been  familiar  with  different  “sprays,”  and  it  was  only 
this  summer  we  saw  an  energetic  parson  who  was  fighting  aphis  and 
other  like  cattle  that  infested  his  fruit  trees  with  a  hose  and  charming 
preparation,  which  reached  the  under  and  upper  side  of  every  leaf- 
We  do  not  want  to  “spray’’  insects;  we  want,  to  “spray”  plant  life* 
and  we  want  something  to  kill  that  plant  life  without  injuring  the 
legitimate  crop.  We  have  not  arrived  at  this  all  at  once  ;  we  could 
find  plenty  of  Charlock  destroyers,  but  they  also  proved  destructive  to 
other  growths.  We  wanted  something  fairly  simp  e  and  fairly  cheap, 
for  it  was  not  on  flower  beds  we  experimentalised  ;  it  is  a  case  of  acres 
and  acres. 
Our  various  agricultural  colleges  took  the  thing  up,  and,  by 
patient  trials  and  careful  observations,  have  arrived  at  some  very 
definite  knowledge.  We  are  under  obligations  to  the  Editor  of  the 
last  number  of  Royal  Agricultural  Society’s  Journal  for  a  summary  of 
trials  and  results.  These  experiments  took  in  most  of  the  counties 
of  England.  In  Northumberland^^  and  adjacent  counties  we  find 
seventeen  farms  on  which  trial  was  made  of  the  new  destructor. 
Essex,  Yorks,  Cambs,  Hunts,  Northants,  Suffolk,  Sussex,  Herts, 
Kent,  Cheshire,  Lincoln,  and  200  other  experiments  made  over  the 
kingdom  generally.  There  appear  to  be  two  chemicals  equally 
destructive  to  Charlock  and  equally  innoxious  to  other  plant  life. 
These  two  substances  are  sulphate  of  iron  and  sulphate  of  copper. 
The  copper  is  the  easier  and  pleasanter  to  handle,  and  will 
therefore  be  more  generally  used,  as  double  the  quantity  of  sulphate 
of  iron  is  necessary.  The  strength  of  the  mixture  appears  to  be  4  lbs, 
of  sulphate  of  copper  in  10  gallons  of  water,  and  the  quantity  per  acre 
is  estimated  at  40  gallons.  More  has  been  used,  and  less,  but  it 
appears  fairly  certain  that  a  larger  quantity  of  greater  strength  is 
unnecessary,  and  that  a  smaller  quantity  weaker  is  not  sufficient  to 
kill  the  weed  unless  in  quite  the  earliest  stage.  Some  recommend 
two  dressings  of  the  weaker  solution,  but  if  the  Charlock  be  taken  at 
the  proper  time  one  dressing  of  40  gallons  of  4  per  cent,  sulphate  of 
copper  should  be  enough.  In  very  few  cases  have  the  experiments 
proved  total  failures,  and  __  then  possibly  there  is  something  left 
untold,  the  weather,  strength  of  growth,  or  some  other  Lparticular 
equally  im;  ortant.  The  weather  is  a  great  lactor  in  the  case. 
Sometimes  it  is  that  Charlock  gets  such  a  start  because  it  is  simply 
impossible  to  get  on  the  land.  The  day  for  the  operation  must  be 
most  carefully  chosen.  There  must  be  absolutely  no  wind.  A 
shower  coming  on  say  four  to  five  hours  after  spraying  will  nullify 
all  desired  effects.  The  plant  will  not  have  had  time  to  absorb  the 
poison.  A  dewy  morning  is  the  best  time,  but  the  dewy  morning 
must  not  be  followed  by  too  hot  a  day.  Fortunately  at  that  season  of 
the  year,  when  spraying  should  be  in  full  force,  the  days  are  not 
particularly  sultry. 
The  sulphate  of  copper  should  be  mixed  if  possible  with  soft  water 
in  a  wooden  bucket — keep  clear  of  zinc  or  iron  paib-i.  The  knapsack 
sprayer  will  answer  tor  small  plots,  but  where  the  area  runs  into  acres, 
Strawson’s  cart  sprayer  will  be  found  necessary.  Why  this  solution 
is  fatal  to  Charlock  has  yet  to  be  discovered.  The  following  crops 
have  been  sprayed  with  the  above  results.  Wheat,  Oats,  Barley 
uninjured ;  young  Peas,  not  permanently  injured  ;  Peas  in  bloom, 
uninjured  ;  Cabbages,  uninjured  ;  Turnips,  killed  almost  as  quickly 
as  Charlock;  Mangolds,  not  permanently  injured;  young  Clover  in 
corn,  absolutely  uninjured ;  Beans,  not  permanently  injured ;  Tares, 
uninjured.  We  read  of  crops  looking  better  and  healthier  after  being 
sprayed  for  Charlock ;  no  doubt  this  is  because  the  legitimate  crop, 
is  getting  more  air  and  space,  which  is  only  reasonable. 
To  some  of  our  readers  40  gallons  per  acre  seems  a  largo  allowance 
but  remember  every  leaf  must  be  wetted.  The  estimated  cost  per 
acre  will  be  about  4s.  Mr.  Homsley  (Laxton  Park)  compares  this 
favourably  with  hand  pulling,  which  would  come  to  about  SOs.  or  35s. 
per  acre.  We  shall  watch  with  great  interest  for  all  reports  of  spraying 
during  the  coming  season.  No  doubt  this  new  method  of  weed 
extermination  will  find  (as  it  should)  many  advocates.  We  think  at 
any  rate  it  may  prove  a  way  out  of  a  great  difficulty.  A  clean  crop 
should  be  a  better  crop,  and  we  think  we  should  more  than  see  our 
money  back  at  harvest  time. 
WORK  ON  THE  HOME  FARM. 
Since  the  great  snowstorm  we  have  had  rain  almost  every  day  and 
night ;  the  snow  has  just  disappeared,  but  the  rain  is  still  in  evidence  in 
the  shape  of  flood  water.  Rivers  are  fuller  now  than  ever ;  everywhere 
water  meets  the  eye,  and  we  fear  the  worst  is  not  over. 
Spring  sowing  is  as  it  stood  a  week  ago.  If  a  favourable  change 
were  to  come  over  the  weather  it  would  take  a  fortnight’s  sun  and  wind 
to  make  even  light  land  fit  to  sow  with  Barley.  A  wonderful  trans¬ 
formation  must  be  seen  if  much  of  the  Barley  crop  is  to  be  sown  before 
the  equinox.  We  want  March  winds,  and  hope  that  Tennyson’s 
“  Raging  Moon  of  Daffodil  ”  may  act  up  to  its  reputation.  March  dust 
is  at  a  premium  just  now. 
There  is  more  work  for  men  than  for  horses.  The  manure  is  all  led 
out,  and  it  is  quite  out  of  the  question  to  attempt  to  go  on  the  land. 
Delivering  corn,  bringing  in  cake  and  coals  are  hardly  sufficient  to 
keep  the  animals  in  exercise,  meanwhile  work  is  getting  into  arrears. 
There  is  plenty  of  hedging  and  fencing  for  the  men.  Grips  have  to 
be  cut  to  let  off  surface  water  from  low  places,  and  ditches  must  be 
kept  clear.  Field  corners  may  be  dug  and  forked  over,  whilst  all  odds 
and  ends  of  scrapings,  turf,  and  twitch  rubbish  may  be  carted  into  a 
heap,  to  be  left  to  decay.  Amongst  this  may  be  mixed  Potato  tops 
that  have  been  used  to  protect  the  pies,  and  any  straw  from  the  pies 
not  worth  taking  into  the  foldyards.  February  has  seen  the  English 
root  crop  practically  finished.  We  wonder  whether  such  a  thing  has 
occurred  before  within  living  memory. 
We  have  just  come  across  a  ram  breeder  who  is  sending  gimmer 
hoggs  to  market  in  their  wool  for  slaughtering.  Nothing  but  dire 
necessity  would  induce  him  to  do  such  a  thing.  Grass  is  growing 
where  there  are  no  mouths  to  prevent  it. 
Good  fortune  smiles  upon  the  lambing  pen  ;  the  mortality  amongst 
ewes  is  very  small,  and  lambs  are  healthy.  The  fall  of  lambs  is  good, 
and  the  poorness  of  the  Clover  plant  will  be  severely  felt  when  the 
bulk  of  the  pairs  are  put  upon  the  seeds.  There  will  certainly  be  no 
Mangold  left  to  eke  out  the  poor  pasture.  "We  wonder  what  effect  the 
failure  of  the  Turnips  will  have  on  this  year’s  sheep  number  when  the 
agricultural  returns  are  published. 
Eggs  keep  up  in  price,  although  the  supply  is  now  materially 
increasing.  The  weather  has  been  bad  for  young  chickens.  There  is 
nothing  suits  them  like  sunshine,  of  which  the  supply  has  not  been 
large  of  late.  Young  chicks  must  not  be  stinted  of  warmth. 
