Democratic Sentinel, Volume 18, Number 36, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 September 1894 — The Russian Thistle. [ARTICLE]

The Russian Thistle.

Strenuous efforts have been made in Congress by members from the Dakota region to get an immense appropriation to aid in eradicating the Russian thistle. Blood curdling yarns have been told of the frightful damage it is doing all over the Northwest, and from the hair-lifting narratives of the Dakota Congressmen, the average citizen might easily assume that the Russian thistle is infinitely multitudinous, and dread it accordingly. Perhaps, however, we may he able to bury our conviction that it is, under the hope that it is not, if we take note of what Mr. J. S. Wilson, of Badger, South Dakota, says on the subject. Mr. Wilson, writing to an Eastern journal, said: “I have had eight years’ experience with the Russian thistle, and ean say that on my farm it has not caused as much damage as the common bull thistle, also a native of this region. With due respect for the opinion ol legislators who are endeavoring to secure additional aid in suppressing this pest, I think that appropriations for that purpose are entirely un necessary.”