Salt Lake Tribune | 1917-03-31 | Page 11 | Clear Big Tract of Noxious Weeds

CLEAR 8IG TRACT OF NOXIOUS WEEDS Work of Weber County Farm Bureau Praised in Annual Report. To clear 61.613 acres of land, 233 miles of county roads, forty-eight miles of railroad and fifty-two miles of main canals ca-nals of such pernicious weeds as Canada Can-ada thistle, bull thistle, burdock and cocklebur is an ambitious community undertaking, buj under the directorship of the Weber County Farm bureau and the county ajjent this was accomplished in Weber county last year, according to the annual report of Dr. R. J. Evans of the extension division of the Utah Agricultural Agri-cultural college, state leader of county agents. Weber county was the only county in the state that conducted a weed -control project, but the success attending: the work there was most gratifying. It demonstrated very clearly that this worst of farm pests can be effectively and economically controlled. The part of Dr. Evans's report which reviewed the county agent work in farm pest projects, under which head are Included alfalfa weevil and grasshopper control, as well as weed control. Is as follows: There was but one county using weed-control work as a special project, proj-ect, but the results are so striking that a summary will be given. The bureau and the county agent included in-cluded 104.63S acres of land in th district, owned by 2659 persons. The weeds chosen to be eradicated were Canada thistle, bull thistle, burdock and cocklebur. They were to be kept from seeding. There were j 61,613 acres, or 58.8 per cent, cleaned up. There were 351 miles of county roads, of which 2G3 miles, or 68 per cent, were cleaned; fifty-three miles of railroad, of which forty-eight miles, or 91 per cent, were cleaned ; 119 miles of main canals, of which fifty-two miles, or 42 per cent, were cleared. It look a farm bureau with courage cour-age to assume such a task, but with the leadership in the project of an energetic county agent, the results were obtained. While the results cannot be given in terms of money, any thoughtful person can realize the vast saving to the county, because every weed found on a farm must displace an economic plant of equal size. Eight farmers demonstrated the control con-trol of alfalfa weevil on 240 acres of land and obtained a net return of 31200 for their effort. Four demonstration meetings meet-ings were held, at which 117 farmers attended. at-tended. These demonstrations were conducted con-ducted only in' areas where the weevil is new. There were serious outbreaks of grasshoppers grass-hoppers in sections of three counties. The county agents responded, with the result that by the use of poisoned bran mash and catchers the pest was brought under control. No definite results were measured mea-sured in some sections, which makes It impossible to give the full vajua of work done. On twenty-five farms from which results were reported, 998 acres were cared for under the direction of the agents, making a net saving of $57,418. In three counties the agents are working work-ing on the advfsabillty of sugar-beet growing. In these areas thirty-two farm- ; ers grew plats under the direction of the county agents, showing an increase of $2323 in value over those grown under other methods.