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Show On Utah County Farms With The Extension Agent . - 1111 K TOP ( Al'SKS UKAVY CKOP LOSS ON UTAH I Ali.MS Utah farmers are facing a serious ser-ious weed problem. At present they are suffering a loss of approximately ap-proximately $2,UUQ.00U a year and the toll is becoming greater with each succeeding year, warns l'ro-U-ssur J. C. Hogenson, extension agronomist of the Utah State Agricultural Ag-ricultural college. This loss is caused by the weeds occupying the ground that should be growing productive crops. They rob the soil of plant food and moisture mois-ture which crops should receive, ihus causing a lower yield of interior in-terior quality. They create an ever increasing amount of work to I keep them in check. 1 Probably the worst weed in Utah is white top, a perennial which multiplies both by seed and by underground root stocks. Every Ev-ery inch of root stock no matter whether attached to the plant or cut off will produce a new thrifty plant, Professor Hogenson points out. There are two ways of handling the white ton. The method to be used should be determined by the siw of the patch. If the patch is large, cultivate; while if it is small, use a chemical spray. Thorough cultivation. means that the operation snould be done sufficiently often to prevent new growth from appearing above the surface of the ground, beginning in the spring and continuing until ' the end of the growing season in the fall. During the year the patch should be watered frequently to keep the plants in the best growing grow-ing condition. This will exhaust the food supply stored in the roots much more quickly than will be the case if the plants are allowed to remain dry during the growing season. When the food supply stored in the roots is exhausted ex-hausted and no leaf surface is allowed al-lowed to grow so that more food can be manufactured, the plants die. If the weed patch is small, then spray sufficiently often during the growing season with a solution of calcium chlorate using about three pounds of the chlorate per square rod of weeds to keep the tops killed down. Where the patches are large this method is altogether too expensive. |