Consumptives weed

Common/vernacular names Eriodictyon, bear s weed, consumptives weed, mountain balm, and tarweed. 

In the United States, more than 700 species of plants are known to be poisonous. On occasion death occurs from eating poisonous plants, berries, seeds, or tubers. It has been estimated that 75,000 cases of plant poisoning occur annually with children being the prime victims. Adult poisoning often results from the consumption of therapeutic teas or use of toxic weed, such as hemp, as hallucinogens and mind-altering drugs. 

Acute, resulting from consumption (usually in a single feeding) of a sufficient quantity of highly seleniferous weeds... 

Blind staggers, from consumption of moderately toxic amounts of seleniferous weeds over an extended period of time... 

The assessment of the sustainability of the cultivation of energy crops includes the input and recycling of nutrients, the application of pesticides, the water-use efficiency, the consumption of fossil fuels and the balance of soil carbon. The aim is to recycle the nutrients, which is simple in the case of anaerobic digestion by applying the digestate to the field. If crops are combusted many of the minerals can be returned via the ash. In the case of liquid biofuels, exported nutrients are lost and have to be replaced. The application of pesticides, mainly herbicides, can often be reduced in comparison to food production, but the energy yield per hectare might be reduced if the share of weeds exceeds certain thresholds. Water use efficiency,... 

Table 4-19 shows data on energy consumption for different crops, both on a per hectare and per output unit scale. The determining factor for energy consumption of a specific crop is its cropping management, which includes tillage intensity, manuring and weed control. 

The Department of Agriculture has estimated that about 10% of U.S. agricultural products is lost because of weeds. About 1,500 species of weeds cause economic loss. As we mentioned earlier, herbicide use rose dramatically in the 1970s and 1990s, and herbicide consumption is now at 900 million Ib/yr with a worth of 6 billion/yr. In 1950 there were only 15 different herbicides today there are over 180. Herbicides are used mainly on com, soybeans, wheat, and cotton. 

If the drift-weed were to be burnt to a loose ash, it would furnish 25 to 30 lbs. of iodine per ton in practice, it rarely contains more than 12 lbs. per ton. The low yield is due to faulty treatment in calcination-—e.g. (i) burning at too high a temp, which causes the volatilization of part of the iodine, and the fusion or fluxing of the ash with sand and pebbles and (ii) imperfect protection of the kelp-ash from the weather whereby some of the soluble iodides are washed out by rain. High temp, burning also reduces some of the sulphates to sulphides, which later causes a high consumption of acid per unit of iodine. 

Herbicides. The use of herbicides (qv) based on iodine compounds has its main market in Western Europe. In Canada and the United States these compounds are used only to a small extent. The only significant iodine-containing herbicide is ioxynil [1689-85 4] (4,-hydroxy-3,5,-diiodobenzoic acid). This compound, often used in combination with other herbicides, is formulated for controlling many annual broad-leaved weeds, especially black-bindweed, knotgrass, mayweeds, and com marigold post-emergence in wheat, barley, oats, rye, and triticale (142). Annual consumption of iodine in relation to ioxynils is considered to be about 300—500 t (66). 

Herbicides reduce harvest costs. Weeds often make it impossible to harvest a crop and may result in total crop failure. Weeds wrap around, clog, and otherwise interfere with harvesting equipment, resulting in longer running times, greater fuel consumption, and increased harvest costs. 

Readers were likewise informed that while "appalling in its effects on the human mind and body as narcotics, the consumption of marihuana appears to be proceeding, virtually unchecked in Colorado and other Western states with a large Spanish-American population." And if this were not dire warning enough, readers were also told that marihuana was "kin to loco weed... [and] when mixed with hay causes death to horses "... 

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