Sub-tropical climate and rich organic soils in the Florida Everglades produce rank growths of vegetation in ditches and on their banks. This causes some of the most troublesome problems encountered in the field of water control. The regular cleaning of such channels to allow designed flow presents a costly problem to farmers and drainage districts.

The use of Isopropyl N-Phenyl Carbamate (IPC) as a residual pre-emergent herbicide depends on the effective concentration remaining in the soil for a period of time. The effectiveness of such a treatment has been shown to be dependent upon several factors.

Chemical methods offer a quick means of eliminating crabgrass from lawns and other grassed areas. Sodium arsenite, used since 1935, is the oldest of the selective chemical crabgrass killers. In 1947 phenyl mercuric acetate was reported to be effective as a crabgrass killer in the bentgrass type of turf.

It has been noted frequently that salts of 2,4–dichlorophenoxyacetic acid, such as sodium or triethanolamine salt, are effective as herbicides in regions of moderate rainfall, while in arid regions they are sometimes relatively ineffective. Usually, and particularly under arid conditions, the aliphatic esters of 2,4–D have been more effective as herbicides than the salt forms.

The discovery of the herbicidal properties of isopropyl N-phenylcarbamate (IPC) and isopropyl N-(3-chlorophenyl)carbamate (CIPC) and other organic chemicals has created an impetus in the development of new herbicides. Since the discovery of 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D), considerable effort has been devoted to the development of herbicides that are as effective and selective for the control of annual grasses as is 2,4-D for the control of many broad-leaved weeds.