The Tipton advertiser. [volume] (Tipton, Cedar Co., Iowa) 1856-1962, 1873-10-16
Words about Weeds.

Joseph Harris, author of "Walk.
and Talks in the .imericon 1gri.
critriss thus discourses upon weeds
A weed is a plant growing where
you do not want it to grow. Thistles
are not weeds when grown, as they
are in France, to make perfume. The
thistlcs growing in the Deacon's
wheat are weeds. He does not want
them there. If you have six plants
of corn in a hill where you only want
four, two Of them are weeds. 4 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 his animals drink in a
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 and buries 3
thousand. Next Spring they will
come up by the million. You can't
ge: rid Of weeds unless you kill them.
II you do not kill them they will kill
you. They are worse than foot-rot
in sheep. They spread faster than
catcrpillars on currant bushes, or than
the canker-worms on apple trees.
Some of the orchards in this neigh
borhood look as though they had been
sprinklcd over with kerosene and set
fire to. The worms have eaten of
every leaf.
Some farmers keep off the insects
by putting tar bands round the trunks
of the trees in Spring; some don't.
Some think it is no use fighting the
worms. Some farmers think it 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 cant be killed,
but he does not try to kill them. He
hoes his corn. | don't hoe my corn.
hoe the weeds. I would kill the
weeds ii there was no corn. am not
sure that the Deacon would. The
Deacon never Summer fallows. He
never Fall fallows. He never tries to
make the weeds grow. He never
tries to smother them up for 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
clearer than his. l am fighting the
weeds. He lets them grow, and is
waiting for something to turn up.
There are thousands Of farmers doing
the same thing. The weeds cost us
more than all our State. national and
local taxes: more than all our schools,
churches and newspapers. They are
more expensive than children's boots
and ladies' bonnets. They are as bad
rs cigars and fast horses. The horse
may break his neck, and you will get
rid Of him: but the weeds will stick
tighter than a mortgage, and run up
faster than compound interest on a
grocery bill. They are like bad hab-
IFS. You must not tamper with them.
No halfway measures will answer.
The only 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 ! hope when he
visits this neighborhood again he will
find fewer weeds. Land worth $3.50
per acre ought to produce something
better than thistles, red, root, quack-
grass and chess.