The Weed That Beat Wheat Hay

A weed like the Russian thistle, which has no friends whatever—or if it has, I, at least, have never found them—might seem to need pity. If so, then there are other weeds which would also call for sympathy on account of lack of friends, but one which would generally be put in that category does not belong there, for it has its friends, or one at least, who instead of viewing it as an unmitigated pest think it possesses many good features. This friend's name is Mr. Mason. He lives in the Shiloh district, about twelve miles southwest of Cheney. The name of the weed is variously called Chinese thistle, Chinese lettuce or prickly lettuce, the latter being the correct name. He says it is as good as clover for feed, in fact, better in one respect, because clover cannot be successfully raised in this region, while the prickly lettuce grows luxuriantly—too luxuriantly, most people have thought. Cattle, horses and hogs will eat it greedily, and frequently in preference to any other feed. Where it grows in the pasture the stock keep it eaten down close all over the field, and they even eat it through the fence as far as they can reach. I have had other ranchers besides Mr. Mason testify that stock liked it, and where the weed was growing in summer fallow the best way to keep it in check was to turn the horses and cattle on it. Mr. Mason claims that stock does well on it. He had a small field of five or six acres which he had intended to summer fallow, but did not, and the field lying idle the lettuce came up thick on it, intermixed with a little volunteer wheat. The proportion of wheat was about one-third. He wished to plow the ground, and not desiring to have the weeds and wheat on the field, he decided to try an experiment and cut it for hay. He mowed it about the middle of July, while the lettuce was quite green and before it commenced to bloom, and when dry stacked it near the barn. I saw the stack there, or a part of it, for a third of it had been used. The horses were standing near by eating it, apparently with a great relish, and they were not thin, half-starved horses, either, which would eat anything, but sleek, well-fed animals. Mr. Mason stated that he would throw down to his horses and cattle the best wheat and oat hay he possessed; they would eat it a few minutes and then leave it to go to the prickly lettuce hay. As the stock like it so well and it grows so luxuriantly, the only question which now remains is, What is its feeding value? If no one has investigated this and cannot answer the question, I would like some one or more who are in a position to investigate—those at the experiment stations or elsewhere—to do so, and then publish the results of their research. There is, however, one thing more to take into account: Do the bad qualities of the weed overbalance its good qualities? Mr. Mason thinks not. In the wheat fields it does not grow scarcely anywhere there is a good stand of wheat, only on the bare and thin spots, and this causes no difficulty, for the binder will cut right through it unless the harvesting is done very late and the stems of the lettuce have become hard, when it makes the machine run harder. Taking it altogether, he is in favor of it.