Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 167, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 July 1915 — DEADLY TO WEEDS IN SUGAR LANDS [ARTICLE]

DEADLY TO WEEDS IN SUGAR LANDS

ARSENIC SPRAYED UPON THEM PROVES MORE EFFECTIVE THAN THE HOE. t f. TO BE THEO OUT IK LOUISIANA Agricultural Department Experts to Test the Method In the Com Fields. Washington Officials of the department of agriculture are greatly interested in reports received from Hawaii, to the effect that one of the big sugar companies has adopted as a regular field practice the system of destroying weeds by use of an arsenic poison spray Instead of by hoeing. Experts who have conducted experiments on Hawaii sugar lands estimate that by the spraying method a saving can be made in labor of 115 to 130 an acre per annum. The latest development along this line in Hawaii are discussed in a letter received from Prof. H. P. Agee, director of the experiment station stall of the Hawaiian Sugar Planters’ association. Before going to Hawaii, Prof. Agee co-operated with the department in experiments on Louisiana sugar land. The value of this method in Hawaii is very great, because of the fact that, like most tropical regions, the Islands are subject to torrential rains. The less the surface of sugar and other lands are dlsturbd by cultivation the less chance there is that heavy rains will wash off the top soil or immediately beat it into compact form. A few years ago the department of agriculture issued a bulletin dealing with the weed factor in the cultivation of corn, following a series of experiments extending over several years, which apparently established the principle that it is the removal of the weeds rather than the cultivation proper that contributes most to the production of the com crop.

A series of 125 experiments were conducted covering many states. On some plots the most approved methods of cultivation were employed, while on other plots there was no cultivation whatever, the weeds being eliminated by surface scraping with a hoe. A general average of all these experiments showed that the plots that were simply weeded produced 95.1 per cent as much fodder and 99.108 per cent as much grain as those that were subjected to the most approved methods of cultivation. The arsenic spray method will be given a trial on com land in Louisiana this year by experts of the office of Farm Management in co-operation with local authorities, with a view to determining whether it Is not available for use in that region, where climatic conditions to some extent approach those in Hawaii. At present It is not believed that the arsenic spray can be generally employed throughout the United States on com and other lands because of the great difference in climatic and soil conditions. In Hawaii the spray is applied to the weeds with great care, since if it touches the leaves on the cane they are immediately destroyed. When carefully applied, either by a hand spray or by a spray consisting of an oil barrel attached to a stone sled especially constructed for the purpose and pulled by one mule, there is no danger to the cane. Frequently it Is necessary to follow the sled spray with a hand spray in order to 'kill the few weeds that aro not reached. The results of the spraying method have been so satisfactory that experiments are being conducted with a view to improving the somewhat crude Implements now in use.

WOOODEN LEGS FOR DUCKB.

Hie Latest Improvement Is Rubber Webs for the Artificial Members. Benzoina, Ariz. —You can not tell Benn Lewis, who lives over Beulah way, that kindness does not pay. Last fall Ben was over on Grass Lake duck hunting. He found in the reeds a wounded mallard. One leg had been stiot until it was hanging by a thread of akin. Ben the Injured leg; fed the mallard and before long it was hopping around the barn lot with the domestic ducks. Later Ben became attached to the bird and. made it a wooden leg with a paddle on the end so It could swim better, because with one foot it usually went in a circle. In the fall the mallard flew south ward. Ben thought no more of it until last wfiek, when the mallard returned with seven other mallards, every one with their leg shot off. The duck evidently Informed them of Ben’s kindness and brought them up to Benzoina. Ben has been busy making wooden legs and Improving on the paddle toot by making rubber webs.