Centre Democrat. [volume] (Bellefonte, Pa.) 1848-1989, 1880-05-13
Weeds.

The farmers fight with the weeds
is a never-ending one, and unless
kept up with unyielding vigor, the
weeds are apt to come out ahead.
So persistent and ever-present, and
destructive of comfort and profits
are they, that the bare mention of
the subject is almost enough to send
cold shivers down the back Of the
practical farmer. In the May num-
Der of Scribner's Magazine, John
Burroughs, under the head of "Notes
of Walker" gives information con-
corning these pests in a pleasant,
chatty way, part of which we re-
produce below, by courtesy of the
editors. Every issue of this great
magazine contains one or more arti-
cles of special interest to farmers,
and we should be glad to see its cir.
culation among them largely in
creased
The walker makes the acquaintance
of all the weeds. They are travellers
like himself, the tramps of the vegetable
world. They are going east, west,
north and south they walk, they fly.
they swim, they steal ride, they travel
by rail, by flood, by wind they go
underground, and they go above, across
lots and by the highway. But, like
other tramps, they find it safest by the
highway; IN the fields they are inter
cepted and cut oil, but on the public
road, every boy. every passing herd Of
sheep or cows gives them lift.
Weeds, like yer min. are carried from one
end of the earth TO the other. A curl.
Gus illustration of this fact is given by
SIR Joseph Hooker. "On one occasion, !"
he says, "landing on a small unin
habited island, nearly at the Antipodes,
the first evidence | met with of its
having been previously visited by man
was the English Chickweed; and this |
traced to mound that marked the
grave of British sailor, and that was
covered with the plant, doubtless the
offspring of seed that had adhered to
the spade or mattock with which the
grave had been dug"
Ours is a weedy country because it il
a roomy country. Weeds love wide
margin, and they find it here. You
shall see more weeds in one days travel
in this country than in a weeks jour
ney in Europe. Our culture OF the
soil Is not so close and thorough, our
occupancy not so entire and exclusive.
The weeds take up with the farmers
leavings, and find good fare. One may
see 9large slice taken from a field by
elecambane, or by teasle, or wilk.weed /;
whole acres given up TO whiteweed,
goldenrod, wild carrots or the ox.eye
daisy; meadows overrun with bear.
weed, and sheep pastures nearly ruined
by st. Johns wort or the Canada
thistle. Our farms are so large and
our husbandry SO loose that We do not
mind these things. By and by we
shall clean them out. Weeds seem TO
thrive here rs in no other country.
Is there not something in our soil
and climate exceptionally favorable 20
weeds--something harsh, ungenial.
sharp. toothed that Is akin to them ?
How woody and rank and fibrous many
varieties become, lasting the whole
season, and standing up stark and stiff
through the deep winter SHOWS, s,-desic-
Gated, preserved by our dry air Do
nettles and thistles bite so sharply in
any other country? To know how
sharply they bite. of dry August or
September day, take turn at raking
and binding oats with . sprinkling OF
blind nettles in them. A sprinkling Of
wasps and hornets would not be much
worse.