Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1883-07-21
Cleaning the Land.

Cleaning the Land.
If farmers could be made to see how
much ground is occupied by weeds, and
how much strength they take from the
soil-plant-food which belongs to the
grains; if they could also see to what
extent weeds occur in the hay crop and
the grass, fainting and lessening the
milk and diminishing the value of other
feed for the stock; if, further, they could
be made aware of the amount of foul
seed that passes into the manure and
gets into the seed for laying down pas
ture and meadow-if all this and more
were as clearly seen by the farmer
as it exists in fact, a wal of extermina-
ton would at once be begun, and in a
few years thriving fields Of clean grain
and grass would meet the eye on every
hand. Instead we see in the early sum
mer white fields as far as the eye can
reach, with some exceptions, showing to
what extent the daisy has taken posses
sion of u grass lands, and in turn,
when laid down to grass, our grain
fields also. After the daisy comes the
buttercup, giving a yellow tinge to the
landscape, followed by red patches and
sometimes whole fields of thistles and
other weeds. Thus the entire season is
occupied, the weeds increasing, having
the advantage of the grain, as they
thrive without culture, yet they are fa-
vored by it.
The question now comes, how is the
land to be cleaned? This is no secret;
and the worse infested fields can be as
readily cleared, and with as little ex-
pense and more profit to the land, as
where the least weeds occur. It is sim
ply by working the soil sufficiently to
prevent the weeds from growing, and
the fallow and the cornfield thoroughly
worked, SO as to keep under the weeds,
are the means, the expense of the extra
labor being more than paid for in the
increased yield of the crop that follows.
And it is the only reliably successful
way. Plow the land for all hoed crops
early, and employ cultivator and hoe at
short intervals, before the weeds have
time to appear; continuing this during
the greater part, or if needed, the whole
of the time Of the growth of the crop,
taking pains to keep clean around the
plants, sowing and narrowing the land
well Immediately after the crop is re-
moved-the earlier-maturing crops
with some strong-growing, ground
shading plant, like the pea with plas-
ter) OF buckwheat, the later maturing,
like corn, root crops and late potatoes,
with rye, making a mellow seed-bed,
and sowingt the grain thick and even.
Treat the fallow, after the first early
blowing, or blowing late in the fall,
with pillow, cultivator and harrow from
time to time, as needed, to prevent
weeds from appearing. By this means
of fallow or hoed crops the ground be-
comes a garden in mellowness, and
cleaner than the garden, which gener-
ally needs the same treatment. The
soil is not only improved in texture but
in fertility. A profitable work has
been done, the benefit beginning with
the first crop and continuing, for now
the seed raised will be clean and the
manure the same. If after a number OF
years the land again becomes foul, as it
may from dormant seeds in the soil and
the seeds brought by the winds from
neighboring fields, repeat the process OF
cleaning as before, remembering that
it is the mechanical working of the soil
that most improves it. The land wants
to be aerated, the soil we'll mixed, SO
that a new combination of particles may
take place, and the oftener this is done
the better; but now and then thorough
work is required by which the soil may
be cleaned and worked deeper, bringing
new matter in play and favoring mois:
ture and drainage.
Since the land was cleared of its tim.
Der weeds have possessed it, necessita.
ting another clearing, which should
have been done long ago, the neglect Of
which has been a loss Of many millions
of dollars yearly, the evil gradually but
surely increasing, and will continue tc
increase if no check be given, till farm.
ing car with difficulty be made to pay.
Instead, if destroyed, the weeds will
furnish a considerable amount of plan,
food, which then goes to the grains and
the grass with the room before occupied
by the weeds.-F. g., IN Country Gen.
Men1an.