Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1868-07-24

WirH what wonderful proli6cacy the
soil brings forth wecdsg How provoking
IL Is 20 sec your newly narrowed field, or
your just completed garden, bristling up
with an army OF young weeds. The ex-
pletives of hard. working farmers and gar
deners against these cumbercrs Of the
ground are uttered with an energy which
leaves no doubt OF their sincerity and
earnestness. When you come to facts on
this subject, the proliicacy of weeds Is
something terrible TO contemplate. DR.
Ltndloy estimates, as a low average, the
following number Of. seeds from each of
plant Of groandscl produces s,osn sOods.
I - sO,,,gO Sow Thistle = ii'SiS SiS
Here then is a good chance fcrr the
growth of 10,400 plants, or enough TO
cover three acres and half at three feet
apart To hoe this land, Dr. Lindloy says,
will cost 6s sterling per acre and hence a
man throws away 5s Sd time, as often as
he neglects to bend his back and pull up q
young weed before Il gets into flower. lie
recommends every gardener whose YER
tebral column will not bend to pull weeds,
TO count the number Of dandclions, this
ties, &c, on the first square rod he can
measure off. II would be well for similar
estimate to be made as TO the pig-weed,
mullcin, fox.tail, chickweed, burlock,
purslane, and last, but far from least, Cana
ia thistle, whichso abound in this country
Not only the proliilcacy, but the ready
growth of weeds, forms most formidable
obstacle TO good husbandry. They seem
TO spring up and flourish as if there were
some special provision in the soil TO favor
their quick development They always
outgrow the useful forms of vegetation,
unless you can favor them in some way,
and give them q start in advance. No
sooner is one generation of them destroyed
than another starts into life, and IL often
seems as if tho ground literally swarmed
with the seeds of these noxious things.
Many of them also are very tenacious of
life. A war Of determination, root and
branch, is the only thing that will do for
them Leave the least spTig or fibre of
them in the soil, and they quickly re-estab-
1 lsh themselves
Yet, after all, these discouraglng facts
about weeds have another side to them.
The same provision for quick growth
which fosters weed-life, is necessary for the
useful forms of vegetation. Our hope of
smiling and abundant harvests rests on the
same laws of nature under which weeds
fructify 80 fast, and multiply so fearfully.
Moreover weeds, by their presence and
growth, rouse up energy ON the part of tho
tillerof the soil, and compel that constant
shaking and loosening up of the ground |
which is necessary to high and successful |
culture.
There is only one way of dealing with
these pests. They must be got rid of. 1t
is of no use to tamper with them, or To be
satisfied with halfway measures. To
them down aud TO let them speedily grow
up again-to leave them by the fence side
and in the fence corners to mature and
scatter their sced--to let them get into
flower and then cut them down when they
have vitality onongh to perfect their seeds,
leaving them TO withcr and die upon the
ground-these are some of the slip-shod,
make-belicve methods of destroying weeds
An energetic thistle or mullen laughs at
such halfway work, and will infallibly
increase and multiply in defiance of It,
We must wake up to the necessity of thor
oughly eradicating weeds. People ridi-
cule the idea of legislating on this subject
but the evil is becoming 80 serious that
something eifectual must bo done and If
public sentiment cannot be created, such
as shall secure weed determination, law
must try its hand In Michigan they have
statutes on this subject, that even forbid
throwing weeds into the highway; and If
we had law requiring utter eradication
of weeds, though its enforcement would
be troublesome and expensive Mt first, IL
would he in the end a most beneficial
piece of legislation, under which the ma-
tcrial interests Of the country would pros
per greatly Cdndtid Fdfner