The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1883-06-13
THE PRESS.
WEDNESDAY MORNING, JUNE Is.
Killing Weeds.

The New England Farmer has an instruc-
tive article with the above caption, from
which we make the following extracts
Perhaps there is no single farm operation
in which there has been such a needless
waste of hard manual labor as in that of
field and garden hoeing. 1t is true, there
was some excuse for making hard work of
wedding and hoeing, when there were no
really good ploughs, harrows or horse cul-
tiyators in the market, with which to suita-
bly, prepare and work the soil. A field that
is but half ploughed. can not be put in good
condition for planting by the use even of
the best harrow or cultivator Each oper-
alton must be properly done in its order, or
all the after cultivation will necessarily be
done at disadvantage.
We never yet knew the man who had just
finished hard job at hoeing, who was
quite ready and willing, as soon as the last
hill was finished, to turn about and go right
through the same operations again with cul-
tiyator and hoe, and yet that is just what
ought to be done in many cases. But a
better way is to hoe less and cultivate often
er. On no account should one use q hand
hoe Immediately after the first eultivating,
nor should field be cultivated the second
time until the uprooted weeds have had a
little time either to die, or TO catch new
hold with their roots. After one or two
days, If the cultivator is run the second time,
it will count against the weeds. If a field is
rowed both ways is very weedy or grassy
and needs good deal of work done. we
would go through with the cultivator one
way first, and then cross it the next day,
going but once in a row each time. The
third day go through again and the fourth
day cross ways again. And We would contin-
ue this method until every green thing be-
tween the rows has been killed. Then we
would go through and pull, or dig out the
weeds in among the plants in the hills, leay-
ing them between the rows, where, If their
roots caught a new hold, they would be torn
up by the cultiyator the next time it passed
through. Such hoeing may be done any
time when not too wet 10 work out doors,
while by the ordinary methods of cultiva-
ting and hoeing the same day, the hoe might
about as well be hung on its hook as to be
used in the field, for as many weeds may be
set out or transplanted as killed. If we use
the hand hoe at all in the field or garden, we
should use it to kin weeds, and not to Guilt
vaIe the land. Let the horse and cultiyator,
or horseshoe do that. We can not afford to dig
the ground by hand in these days of improv-
ed farm machinery and low prices for farm
products.
And yet we can not afford to grow weeds
among our crops. Nor is there any need
tndt we snOulu. A GOOD morse hoe, With
reversible outside teeth, that can be set so
as to throw the earth either towards or from
the hills, at pleasure, and with expanding
braces to fit it for wide or narrow rows, may
be run with perfect safety, even before the
crop begins to break through the surface,
aud may be run daily if necessary, till
everything between rows is as dead as hay.
One thorough hand hoeing is all that the
very weediest of fields ever ought to require.
All the killing, where killing is desirable,
may, and should be done by horse power.
We have been discussing methods of
handling very weedy fields, such fields as
have neither been well ploughei nor we'll
cultivated previous 10 being planted. Where
the preliminary work has been done well,
no such amount of horse cultivation will be
required. The smoothing harrow drawn
over thoroughly titled and properly plant
ed corn or potato field, will, in two hours
time, do the work of both man and cultiya-
tor for a whole day. A great many acres
of cultivated land were kept clean of weeds
last year without any hand labor with hoes.
an occasional weed to be pulled by hand
being all the hand labor required, and these
were so scattering as not to pay for pulling,
except to keep the land clean for succeeding
crops. By adopting better methods of cul-
tivating and wedding our crops, we shall be
better prepared to cut the early grass at the
right time, instead of leaving it to go to seed,
while we are grubbing and sweating among
the weeds in our fields and gardens.