Show PREVENT TOP GROWTH OF perennials AND BE victorious IN WAR WITH WEEDS 44 0 Z A I 1 4 j 5 k 4 ea 47 X mn r 1 r I 1 opia AA 4 V Y Z I 1 W 4 A anif E Well Kept roadside where weeds are controlled by frequent mowing prepared by the united states department of 0 agriculture F keep beep down the top growth of perennial weeds in order to starve out the underground parts this top growth is equivalent to the lungs of animals without it they cannot live any methods that successfully keep down the top growth and at the same time suit the farmers convenience may be used among the ways that may be adopted tor for keeping down top growth are the following 1 clean cultivation 2 pasturing 3 growing smother crops 4 frequent cutting with a hand hoe spud or mower and 5 smothering small patches with building paper or other material clean cultivation in most cases cultivation will be relied upon to destroy perennials the work may be done either with or without a cultivated crop growing on the land many farmers have eradicated perennial weeds by giving thorough cultivation to EL a crop cultivation Is especially effective it if the crop has been planted in checkrows chec krows so as to permit working in two directions the ordinary shovel and tooth cultivators permit penult many weed stems to slip through unharmed it Is often best therefore to use cultivators of the sweep or weed knife type these sweeps skim along under the surface of the soil and cut off all weed stems on many of the modern cultivators sweeps 9 to IS 18 inches wide may be attached in place of the shovels no matter how thoroughly the tops have been kept down during the period of cultivation most well esteb dished perennials will continue to send up tops tope after cultivation stops this situation may be met by frequent chop pings with a hoe hand hoeing in such bases la Is not as tedious as it may seem since most perennials do not occupy the land solidly but occur in patches if the top growth Is thus thoroughly kept down one year Is usually sufficient to eradicate even the worst of our perennials this plan is especially effective against canada thistle bull nettle and bindweed or wild morning glory perennials may often be attacked most effectively by clean cultivation without growing a cultivated crop in other words by a bare fallow it Is seldom advisable to fallow for an entire year since this does not permit the farmer to get any use of its his land A better plan is to use the land durin inz the early part of the season and to fallow it in the latter part F for or instance the land may be pastured until midsummer or ct a crop of hay or small grain may be taken off before starting the fallow this plan has the additional advantage of starting the work of eradication by fal lowing at a period when nearly all weeds are in their most susceptible stage under this his plan the work of fal lowing should be started its as soon after harvest as possible the land should be plowed and then harrowed or disked dished at frequent intervals during the remainder of the season to prevent top growth ordinarily shallow plowing Is best in fal lowing tor for weed control as this keep kaepa 4 the mass of weed roots at or near the surface fuhere they will be more easily dried out by the sun if this fal lowing be well done dome many kinds of perennials will have died by the close of the season but it Is usually advisable to plant a cultivated crop the next spring in order to destroy such weeds as may persist under this plan the greater part of the work of eradication Is done expeditiously by large implements and without the hindrance of cultivated crops furthermore it Is IR lone done at a time of the year when the farmer Is ordinarily not pressed with other work tills this method Is quite successful against the weedy grasses such as johnson gra grass gras S bermuda grass and quack grass pasturing pasturing may often be round found or of much help in keeping down the top growth of perennials sheep lire are of first importance in this connection they will brows upon almost all kinds of weedy growths and fatten under the process in parts of the west when the pasture grasses become brown during the summer sumra cr sheep will turn their attention to the weeds which are the only green feed in sight bight this fact has been taken advantage of in killing bindweed and the lie small leaved milkweed goats are even more omnivorous than sheep but the regions where it Is profitable to keep goats are limited hogs clogs are of some value in weed eradication because they will root for the underground parts of many weeds these animals have been used to great advantage in getting rid of bindweed or wild morn mom ing glory where it Is feasible to confine sheep goats oats or hogs to very restricted areas for one or more seasons they will in most cases completely kill hill perennial weeds where it Is not practicable to graze sufficiently close to e entirely destroy perennials the grazing still greatly weakens the root system ot of these plants making it an easy task to COM complete PIete the destruction by cultivation smother crops thick stands and vigorous growths of smother crops may be depended on to keep down the top to P growth of perennials the most comi lionly used smother crops are alfalfa buckwheat soy beans millet sorghum and bur clover some weeds are more susceptible to this treatment than others bermuda grass may lie be eradicated a continuous succession of smother crops alfalfa where it succeeds well Is the most effective smother crop largely because it combines frequent clipping with the smothering effect it may be relied upon to reduce greatly or even to eradicate entirely most perennials except some of the grassy weeds in the case of smother crops as avith pasturing the principal value Is to weaken the root systems of perennials which facilitates cili tates the work of cultivation which 11 Is to follow mowing or cutting cutting oft off repeatedly peat edly the tops of perennial weeds with a mower scythe or other tool may sometimes be used to advantage this Is of most use on pastures roadsides and other uncultivated places it has been found that mowing twice a year for two years will civili eradicate the tern fern brake one of the bad weeds of pastures in new england and new york smothering with building paper and other materials where perennial weeds occupy very limited areas it Is often practicable to prevent further spread by covering the infested area with building paper taking care to lap over and weight down the ends so as to exclude all sunlight building paper suitable for this use normally may be obtained at from to 4 per thousand square feet or 97 to per acre depending on its thicken thickness ess manure straw and other materials are also employed for this purpose |