Show ERADICATE RUSSIAN THISTLE looked upon by farmers in irrigation district as an evil to be quietly endured by 0 M OSBORNE agricultural edl tor idaho experiment station tho russian thistle has become BO widely distributed in the irrigated regions that it Is comy ionly looked upon by the farmers as an evil which must be endured it Is exceedingly unfortunate that such a view of tho russian thistle has been taken tor it Is not a difficult weed to eradicate provided community effort can be be cured without community effort however its eradication Is quite hope less the reason tor this Is that the weed propagates itself solely by the seed which Is scattered by the thou sands over vast areas by means ot the wind which sends the ripened plant tumbling over the prairie tor many miles clean land can thus be come infested from very distant sources the russian thistle Is an annual and the average plant produces about seeds fortunately the seeds seldom retain their vitality longer than two ears any cultivated crops thee that can be introduced into the rotation fr a period of two or more years will entirely eradicate this weed from an infested field providing other weeds 0 the same kind are not al lowed to tumble over the field dur ing this period hence tho importance of community effort Is evident it Is often advisable to fence off fielda that are to be cleaned up with woven wire then in case the whistles thistles es pile up against the fence in the tall they can bo burned and thus prevented from getting into the field tame grasses are often used for two or three years an fn place of culta bated crops while destroying the seeds already in the soil when the weeds are but few in number they may be destroyed by studding spud ding off just below the crown at any time beasie the seeds mature |