Rensselaer Republican, Volume 27, Number 41, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 June 1896 — Destroying the Russian Thistle. [ARTICLE]

Destroying the Russian Thistle.

The Russian thistle is undoubtedly the , greatest weed pest that bas ever been brought to this country from the old world. If taken in time, however, before the ground becomes filled with seeds, it can be held in check, or even exterminated. The farmers of Indiana, —and not only the farmers, but all other citizens of the State, should be on the alert to detect the first inroads of this pestiferous plant, qnd by destroying the young plants, prevent ifs securing a foothold, or at least make its advance very slow. Last year it was found growing in Lake, Lal’orto and Elkhart bounties, near the Lake Shore railway, and it has also been noted as far south as Winamac in Pulaski county. It has certainly gotten a good foothold in the, northern part of the State. It was also found last season on the eastern border of the State, at Liberty, in Union county. from two directions. This is exactly the way in which the prickly lettuce came into Indiana. The latter now covers nearly every part of the State, and unless vigorous -and vihgant measures are used, the Russian thistle will soon be an equally common and far more disagreeable and harmful weed.

The Russian thistle is rather soft and even succulent in the early part of the season. When the seeds begin to ripen in July, the whole plant becomes more rigid, the stems harden, and every part of the plaut becomes armed with short stout spines. If the plants are not gathered until they are prickly, they should always be burned, as the small inconspicuous seeds ripen up in drying and fall out to start another crop. In the, Northwest, the Russian thistle is a tumble w r eed; that is, it grows in a globular outline, keeps its form after dying, and loosening from the soil, rolls here and there as the wind blows it. The shaking of the plant dislodges the seeds; and they are scattered far and wide. Often the plant will sow the seed over many miles of territory in a single season. >rf As the plant extent southward and ’’eastward it loses its tumbleweed habit somewhat, but not enough to rob it of any appreciable part of its terrors; it only spreads a little slower. The necessity for the utmost watchfulness to secure and burn the-first plants that appear in a locality, cannot be too strongly urged. J. C. Arthur, Botanist. [ Purdue University Agricultural Experiment Station, Newspaper Bulletin No. 28, June 5, 1896.] Warren <fc Irwin make the most deairable farm loans of any firm in I the county.