Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1876-08-14

"A discourse on weeds ts Always In season
they are always growing o. scastsrine tneir
And the subject Vim not Do exhAustsd, and
annual cost 10 the Union In ave hundred
million dollars, or one NTH the value OF eli
the Agricultural PRODUCTS or the country.
many places the weeds eat ont half the crops,
and make the cultivation of what remsfus
q least double the cost OF clean manage
On looking back many years, We zee the
progress which has been made In the mode
OF attacking them, In successive gradations.
was, to "pull up and remove carefully those
Which bad gone 70 seed, 70 prevent TIE seed.
Ing OF next year. Srop.ato aoe careful not
borne In abundance. This was regarded as
6ood and careful management But IN i'm
provement was made on this mode, namely,
nation was TO be preuenfed-an excellent
idea,-ft seemed to DO under this improved
treatment, weeds were destroyed when
ing cultivators were not satisfied. They dis
covered that the labor OF roofing out these
full grown or halfgrown monsters was too
destruction Of these intruders while they
were only an inch high. The labor was de-
creased Incredibly. There was . great diff
cate little organization as large as Q cam
brio needle. and one foot high, with roots
like strong hofns branching and penetrating
OF inc crop when torn out, The In Improved
mode lessened the labor ten, twenty or
thirty fold. The great point, there, was to
be better to pay q man five dollars a day to
destroy them in their feeble aud delicate
condition., than at fifty cents q day wnen
stout and shading the whole crop.
But still farther improvement was made,
and this was to destroy the weeds before
tney came up, when they were just Begin
N nd mt hof mi
from the seed. In other words, the steel
rake, nne harrow, or culfivator is passed
over the surface while IL is not yet perfectly
Clean. The process consists In simply mel
lowing thoroughly the whole surface with
cut waiting for any OF them TO make an in
clpient appearance:
awe dlherence in cost between these four
modes. Wait TIL the weeds ripen their seeds,
ana az then carefully pull them up anc place
them, when a foot high; or destroy them
when q single stroke OF the rake or sweep of
tne narrow Ellis them by hundreds at a
economy the FIRST at least fifty or a hundred
We tried the experiment by the watch, of
regularly once q week with q steel rake and
brush the surface thoroughly; and to clean
the weeds from another DC once In q month,
ringers. We prefer to iet each reader repeat
this himself, as the experiment VIII vary in
lts results with circumstances, and should
De tried oy every one, for it will furnish dis
a ainct ocular proof, better than all theories
1t Is well worth while to contrast daoer
needing with the wholesale destruction by
means OF the two-horse harrow. Toe con-
trast may be less striking In the garden bed,
where finger work Ii performed side by side
with the hand rake or the sharp hoe; but on
9 larger scale-on the broad acres OF the
farm, the difference is enormous. The truth
q. ar ohaf a A<~o
very rarely. The summer fallow for eradi-
eating all foul stuff, where this has obtained
possession, Is not sufficiently appreciated.
what are termed hoed crops. are too costly
when cleaned by hand. The single horse
cultiVator IL quite slow enough in It's work.
some cropl are made quite clean when
small, In rapid manner, by means of the
smoothing harrow which sweeps over tie
whole surface; and all others, that is, when
the land is not already clean or cannot be
treated with this harrow to render II so,
should be occupied with broadcast crops.
Tnese remarks apply mostly TO annual or
olepnlal weeds, SUCH as rag weed, fox-tail,
Leu,root, pig weed or purslane. To clear
foul lsnd, 1t is necessary to pillow and harrow
many times, to bring up SUCCESSFULLY the
seeds which lie at different depths and which
Will not terminate till brought to the air.
But perennial rooted weeds, as Canada
thistle, milk weeds, quack grass, &c, which
spread mostly by the roots, may be thor
oughly eradlcated In single season, and at
little expense, by blowing often enough to
Keep the leaves perpetuaIly under. While
Canada thlstles and quack grass have been
easily rooted out thus in four or I've months
the work being thoroughly done, IL would
never be accomplished if occasional cessa.
Ton were permittr1, so that the plants could
get little breathing spell above the sur
face, and the labor might continue hundred
years or more,
To recapituIate then, for annual weeds, kill
them in earliest infancy, while minute and
fragile, and easily swept of by myriads; and
Tor perennfals, never let q solitary leaf APP
pear ABOVE the surface, and the work will
0e speedily and cheaply accomplished
Country Gentleman.
srEINBERGER has come bravely to the