Flame From The Torch

The safest way to kill crabgrass is to shade it, either by cutting the grass high, or by covering it with tarred paper, canvas, old rugs, and such. This also browns out the good lawn grasses, but they will soon recover, while the crabgrass, being an annual, can only come back from seed. Dr. Kephart suggests the use of a blowtorch on crabgrass in small lawns in early May. The flame from the torch need be held on the crabgrass for only an instant, since it is merely necessary to wilt it down. The bluegrass is also wilted down, but will soon recover from the roots. This will not entirely eliminate crabgrass, but is useful in badly infested spots.

On a tennis court, driveway or gravel paths, calcium chloride, or even coarse rock salt, may be used effectively, but these are good for only one season as rains wash them out of the ground. Tar or crude is effective for highway use. Various oils, including No. 2 fuel oil, white kerosene and Stoddard's solvent, may be used safely to kill weeds without danger to young plants of carrot, parsley, parsnip, or celery. These materials should never be used on any other crops, however. Just the proper amount of oil must be applied, and on carrots treatment should be made before the seedlings reach the true-leaf stage, otherwise the flavor may be affected. Not having tried this method, it sounds a bit tricky to me, but it is being used successfully, according to authorities.

Poison ivy is a subject in itself. This plant villain causes untold misery and suffering every year to millions of people, and no one is absolutely immune. I used to think I was until I went around brazenly pulling up the stuff by the roots. The result was a swell case of poisoning, and I have been wary of this rascal ever since. Remember there are three related plants, poison ivy, poison-oak and poison-sumac. All are members of the genus Rhus; all have similar leaves except that poison sumac has seven or more leaves to a stem while the other two have only three. The common poison ivy is a vine, and is found in every state except Nevada and California, but other varieties may be found in these states. The true poison-oak is a shrub or vine, and is found chiefly on the Pacific Coast. Poison-sumac is a shrub that is found in swampy places in the eastern half of the United States.

A good thing to remember is that all members of the sumac family that have red berries are harmless; poison-sumac has whitish berries—similar to poison ivy— that hang down. There is an oriental variety, too, that has been introduced, called the Japanese lacquer tree. From this tree, Japanese lacquer is derived. Even the lacquer is poisonous to some people, and, since the leaves are toxic, it should never be planted.

By: davidbunch

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