The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1873-08-14
Weeds.

It amused me- however, 10 VIC WY
&c write q piece" for the AglcuIt,1rast Oh
killing weeds. Nothing would please, E.s
better. have weeds on the brain. thihh
about weeds, talk about weeds, ana drea1,
about weeds. IF I had to write piece
would certainly select weeds. II 1 naa 70
preach q sermon the text Wouid prooamy
be: az went by the field OF the slotn.u'
and by the vineyard of the man void OF un.
derstandng; and, 10, 1t was all grown over
with thorns, and nettles had covered the
face thereof I think the squire Woulo
give I'D his pew, and the deacon wouid suS-
gest the next morning that "there was SOME
dissatisfaction In the church, and that IL was
thought a change Of climate "oulu pe
good for me-" Write a piece about weeus
What was the old gentleman thinking ABOUT!
Does he want to buy my farm! Does nc
want this neighborhood to become 100 no.
for me. The deacon has already threatened
to awrite piece" for the AgrlcuItuT'sl,
pointing out the weak spots in my system
of farming. The deacon has been taihlns
the matter over with some OF the nelShDolS.
Last fall had two or three hundreu ousue'e
Of mangels frozen in the ground. Ihls 10 u
be one of the charges. They iorget Inat
saved three thousand bushels. Then haa
half an acre Of turnips frozen in the ground.
But saved four or five acres tnat Woulu
yield eight or nine hundred bushels per
acre. The charge in brief is, ''He knows
how TO raise good crops, but does not Know
how to take care of them" This is letting
me off pretty easy.-I could make on! bet
fer case. On the whole, think VIII 1ol-
low the old gentleman's advice, and write
"niecen about weeds. The weather is very
hot. and composing" is hard work, but
will try my hand at short " composition"
ga weed is a plant growing where you
do not want it to grow. Thistles are not
weeds when grown, US they are in France,
to make perfume. The thistles growing IN
the deacon's wheat are weeds. He does not
want them there. If you have six plants OF
corn in hill where you only want four, TWO
of them are weeds. A dead weed is not
weed. A growing weed pumps up water
out of the ground. The weeds in an acre OF
the deacon's clover pump up more water IN
day than all his animals drink III month.
Weeds propagate faster than rats. l have
got more rats than the deacon, but the deacon
beats me on weeds. The boys shoot the rats.
Yesterday they shot two and scared away
dozen. Next year they will come back again.
The deacon kills hundred of his weeds anu
buries thousand. Next spring they will
come up BY the million. You can't get rld
of weeds unless you kill them. If you do
not kill them they will kill you. They are
worse than foot-rot in sheep. They spread
faster than caterpillars on currant bushes, or
than the canker- worms on apple trees. Some
of the orchards in this neighborhood look is
though they had been sprinkled over with
kerosene and set fire to. The worms have
eaten Off every leaf. Some farmers keep OF
the insects by putting tar bands round the
trunks of the trees in spring; some don't.
They think it is no use lighting the worms.
Some farmers think 1t is no use killing the
weeds. 1t is natural for the soil to produce
weeds. They say you can't kill them. The
deacon does not say weeds can't be killed,
but he does not try to kill them. He hoes
bis corn. l don't hoe my corn. hoe the
weeds. I would kill the weeds if there was
no corn.
clam not sure that the deacon would. The
deacon never summer-lhllows. he never
fall-fallows. He never tries to make the
weeds grow. He tries to smother them up
for a few months. He does not Kill the roots.
He does not make the weed-seeds grow and
then kill the young plants. The weeds on
his farm are getting worse and worse. My
farm used to be worse than his; now some
of it is cleaner than his. am fighting the
weeds. He lets them grow, and is waiting
for something to turn up. There are thou
sands of farmers doing the same thing. The
weeds cost us more than all our State, ma
tional, and local taxes more than oil our
schools, churches, and newspapers. They are
more expensive than children's boots and
ladies' bonnets. They are rs bad as cigars
and fast horses. The horse may break bis
neck, and you will get rid Of him; but the
weeds will stick tighter than mortgage, and
run up faster than compound interest or a
grocery bill. They are like bad habits You
must not tamper with them. No halfway
measures will answer. The onlE way to
stop using tobacco is to stop. The only way
to kill weeds is to kill them"
hope the old gentleman will be pleased
with my composition" l hope when he
visits this neighborhood again he will find
fewer weeds. Land worth $50 per acre
ought TO produce something better than
thstlcs, red-root, quack-grass, and chess
Walks and Talks on The Fa'm-August
No. Of Agiculturist.