Litchfield enquirer., 1837-07-13
rARMrR.s WORK FOR JTLY.

FARMERS WORK FOR JULY.
 Weeds Naode usefal.-If you happen to have on hand a tolerable growth of weeds, it may be worth the trouble to endeavor to convert them to some useful purpose. We would not advise you to spend more time in saving those incumbrances than they are worth but per- haps the pig weed, purslane, 6Lc., of your garden will make food for your store hogs, well worth attention. Or if it be more con- venient, you may bury weeds, while yet fresh, in trenches, between rows of cultivated plants; or place them in heaps in some un- occupied spot, and cover them with soil, and you will soon have good compost. In such case, it may be we'll first to sift little quick lime over the heaps of weeds, and then add Q good quantity of earth to imbibe the gases given out by fermentation. A good hus- bandman permits as few vegetable and ani- mai substances as possible, to decay or putri- fly in the open air, but covers them with earth and little quick lime, if he has it, thus pre- serving the health of himself and of his fami- ly, by the same means by which he makes his ground fertile.
 Haynaking.-Makea as much hay as possi- ble in the early part of the season, as there is at that time greater probability of your be- ing favored with fair weather. More rain falls on an average in the latter part of sum- mer, or after the 4th of July, than before. If the weather is so unfavorable that hay can- not be thoroughly cured, the application of from 4 to 8 quarts of salt to the ton is recom- mended. In this way it can be saved in a greener state than otherwise, and the benefit derived from the salt is many times it's value. Another good method fsaving green or wet hay. is that of mixing layers of dry straw in the mow or stack Thus the cattle will ea- gerly eat the miXture.-N. F. Farmer.
 Importance of destroying ,ceeds.-The abun- dance in which weeds are seen in some fields, show conclusively- that but little of the mis- chief caused by them is understood. Weeds are injurious to the land and to the crop in almost every possible way that they can be-. In the first place they exhaust the soil to sup port their own useless growth, and abstract that nourishment from it, which ought to go exclusively to support the crop. Secondly, they crowd upon other plants above ground, prevent them from branching out at their roots, and deprive them of a free circulation of air necessary for their health and vigor, so that they shoot up only single, weak, sickly stalks, incapable of producing valuable crop. Thirdly, they throw off from the soil through their leaves into the air, an almost in- credible quantity of moisture, and speedily reduce the ground to so dry state, as to be fit for weeds only to grow in. So enormous is the quantity thrown off by some plants, that it actually exceeds more than twice their own weight in single day. A bunch of grass, placed, during a very dry season, un- der large vessel, sent off moisture in two minutes so as to cover the vessel with drops, which run down its sides. Dr. Watson, who first performed this experiment.. was led to conclude fromits results that an acre of grass exhales more than thirty hogsheads a day Plants are in fact but channels through which moisture is conveyed up from the soil to be dissipated in the air. Hence, the absurdity of the opinion, that weeds will prevent the ground becoming dry by shading it. Let any one in dry weather examine piece of perfectly bare soil, a few inches below the surface, and compare its degree of moisture with that of soil at an equal depth, near the roots of thick growth of weeds, and he will find the difference astonishing.