Show 0 o oO TO tc O r OOl CONTROL OL Drastic action In fighting white whitetop whitetop whitetop top in Utah Is urged in a bulletin on control of that weed just prepared by Heber J J. J Webb state crop pest inspector The bulletin describes the weed how V it spreads and the recommended methods of its control as follows Weed I Described White top Is a fine and soft perennial with erect or ascending stems 6 to 18 inches high The Th stems are somewhat hairy and branching above the middle Tho The leaves are oval or oblong with ends regularly rounded and from a halt half to two inches long and about one inch wide with finely toothed margins margins margins mar mar- gins ot- ot edges The lower leaves are very short stalked the upper ones clasping the stems by broad bases that develop shaped ear-shaped lateral lobes The leaves on the flowering branches smaller and are narrower me Tiie entire plant except toe Lao flower is of oC a deep green color appearing appearing ap ap- ap- ap somewhat waxy The flowers flow flow- ers are white and small about an eighth inch broad or less borne borno on slender blender thread like flower stalks that spread widely from the axis which gives the appearance of one flower from 2 to 3 inches wide The seeds are double in a pod with the broader end downward and slightly shaped heart at the base somewhat sharp pointed at the apex and tipped Upped with a short line beak-line prolongation above the seed-bearing seed pod This weed Is perfectly naturalized and is frequent In waste grounds and along streams It is isone one of ot the earliest blooming plants ripening its Us seeds by the tho time the first crop of hay Is IB cut Seeds Seed of this plant are an impurity of bay and ami grains grown on infested farms farina because fruiting plants are mown with the th hay baled with It and shipped about the country pass unharmed through the digestive tract of farm animals except sheep and returned to the theland theland land Jand in composted stable refuse It ItIs ItIs Itis Is also scattered very Tory greatly in Irrigation ir I. irrigation Ir- Ir water especially when growing alongside canals Propagation Is by a running The stock root-stock as well as seeds smallest piece of root unless dried dree ely out retains enough vitality to start a now v In Infestation Measures are Advocated For control measures s we are recommending for tho the complete eradication of or the weed as follows 1 Cultivation Cultivation is isto isto to be recommended where the seed occurs on land Jand that can be readily cultivated The land should be bo fall taU plowed then the cultivation should begin as early in the season as BS possible pos pos- sible and should continue weekly with a cultivation which virtually mows tho the plant off ot about three Inches below the surface of the ground Aground With the cultivation continuing without without without with with- out fail faU every week during the growIng growing growing grow grow- ing season the underground root On Last Page TO co CONTROL From Page One stalks become so devitalized that th the e following season there will be jusa Just jus Justa just justa t a few Cew straggling plants if any at all Tile The weekly cultivation made In th the e manner suggested prevents the time op op- op of any green leaves above e the time surface of the ground and n no o plant can exist long without receiving ing fug the food air all and sunshine that i It H t gets gels through the leaves If any o oth of f th s weed continues growing the second sec sec- cud ond season this same process should hould lr b applied with the land producing a ac ac c crop until the weeds ar are e completely eradicated 2 Sterilization of the soil soU This Thi s process ma may be lie accomplished in various va va- I rioU rious ways We Ve are suggesting that it be he done either by the application o of salt alt brine made by dissolving from three and a third to three and a half pounds of of common coarse salt per pel gallon of water or by placing the salt saIt from a half hair to three-quarter three inches deep over the infested ground round in the time fall faU or early spring pring- ant and let ra rain raiu ll dissolve and take It into the soil soU or 01 by the application o of a 1 percent or of solution 1 11 of sodium to the over area ri nr r of of these Ulese U H solutions is applied at the rate of two quarts per square foot root of infested Infest infest- ed ground This treatment is to be recommended for Cor ditch fence rows roadways and small areas as or wherever It would be practical The I process renders the thc ground sterile sterne for a couple of years but this i. i is iy a minor objection because i to go o long long- aa rill the wee weed grows growl very lIttia if it anything anything any any- thing else can be grown upon the tIte ground round anyway Ordinary precautions should be t token taken in handling the arse- arse because of oC its poisonous nature The Tho salt treatment Is probably the more economical and Is s just as effi elT- as the sodium nr nir If complete er eradication measures are aie not taken against the weed then vo we are recommending that the weed be prevented from seeding either by cutting or spraying with a 1 per cent solution of sodium to which has been iCCil added dissolved laundry soap at the rate of four lour pounds per gallons of spray 0 |