The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1884-07-24
Weeds on the Farm.

1t is one thing to successfully contend
with the weeds in the garden and quite
another to overcome them among the
crops on the farm. The latter opera
ton requires more extensive and sySte-
matte effort, and the use of various ap-
plianceS that cannot be successfully
employed in the small compass of q
garden. In such cases very much will
depend, of course, upon the previous
condition and mode of cultivation OF
the soil. Each year of neglect and in
attention will give the weeds a secure
hold upon the land and make their SUBJ
dual much more difficult. The question
of having more or less weeds will de-
pend to a great degree upon the care
exercised during the previous autumn
in cutting down and destroying the
plants before they have gone to seed.
1t will depend, also, to a great extent
upon the kind of fertilizers that are
used and the way the ground has beer
plowed. Fresh compost from the barn
ward is prolific source of the weed
pest, and the immediate results of its
use are more harmful than beneficial.
A field that has been poorly plowed,
the sod but half turned under, will
cause a great amount of labor. Even
where no sod has been formed it is
matter of Importance that the surface
should be thoroughly broken up. Some
weeds are killed by being covered deeply
in this way, and others have their roots
exposed and are easily dragged out and
killed bv after cultivation. The increas-
ing use of improved farm implements
is great saving of labor in this direc-
ton.
In many parts of the country, and es-
pecially in the Western States, the hand
hoe is very little used for eradicating
weeds in the field. Corn and potatoes
are generally hoed close up to the grow
ing plants after the cultivator has been
run through the first time, and after
that the stirring of the soil is nearly all
done by horse power. 1t may not in
general be done as smoothly and neatly
in this manner as by hand, but what it
lacks in those respects is more than
compensated by the frequency and
thoroughness with which it may be done
with horse and machine. Hand hoe
ing is apt to be slightingly and super
ficially done. The surface is stirred
over and smoothed and made to pre-
sent fine appearance, but the grass
and weeds are only checked little, and
after few days and with shower of
rain they resume their growth again,
with more vigor than before. If hand
hoeing is depended on as method of
cultivation. the large fields are quite
sure to suffer, for it is a matter of much
time and expense to go through alarge
crop in this way. Two or three times
during the season is as much as the best
farmers can afford, but this too often
leaves the crop in the possession of its
enemies during the latter part of the
wear. The better and more economical
way is to use the cultivator with every
crop that will admit of its use, and that
frequently. Many of the best farmers
in the West keep a cultivator or horse
hoe running through their corn and
potato fields from the time the plants
first appear until the leaves or stalks
have so spread over the ground as to
make further cultivation unnecessary.
In this way the soil is stirred up thor
oughlv and effectively, and the whole
surface between the rows is gone over,
instead of only that Immediately round
the plants themselves, as is the case
with hand hoeing. There is no doubt
but that excessive hand hoeing does
some crops more harm than good:
Potatoes are disturbed too much, and
hilled up higher than they should be
for a good yield. Where the soil is
heaped up around their stems the pota-
toes are smaller, and later in maturing.
The best implements now in use for
cultivating growing crops are designed
to throw all the earth towards and
around the plants that is necessary
n. =. Observer.