Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1886-07-16

will have terminated When once this battle
is successfully fought, the care Of the garden
becomes q great pleasure and the labor is very
light indeed Most OF the work can be done
with a wheel hoe, which in the absence OF
weeds can be run over a large garden in sim
gle hour The writer has frequently been
over q quarter Of an acre Of garden crops in
this time. A garden that is cultivated as
often as II should be will never be troubled
with large weeds, because, whether there are
weeds or not, the garden should have the soil
stirred often enough to keep it light and
loose. After a heavy shower the surface Of
the soil will be so hard that plants will not
grow with much vgor until il is loosened up.
As soon AZ the surface is dry enough TO pull
verize the whoel-hoe should be run through II
this will not only break the crust but IL will
destroy any weeds that have sprouted during
the rain. He who cultivates his garden only
for the purpose Of destroying the weeds will
be very likely not TO stir the soil as often as it
is necessary 10 produce a vigorous growth.
When a garden is not hoed until the weeds
are several inches high, II is impossible to
pulverize the soil as il should be, unless the
weeds are picked up and carried from the
garden, and il the weeds are very plenty, un-
less they are carried from the garden they
will be very likely to grow again in few days.
An effort should always be made TO manure a
garden with manure that IL free from weed
seeds. One Of the great advantages of COM
mercal fertilizers is their freedom from weed
seeds he who uses nothing but concentrated
fertilizers has no good excuse for having
weeds in his garden, because thorough Guilt
walton a few years will clean out all OF the
weed seeds that chance to be in the soil. The
gardener should make it his business to not
only keep the weeds down during the spring
and summer, but he must also be just as care
full to keep others down in the autumn until
cold weather. 1t is astonishing how few days
it requires for a weed to grow and ripen its
seed in the autumn-not half as many az it
requires in the spring. Purslsne will grow
and ripen it's seed the last of the season in
about two weeks. This is really one of the
most difficult weeds to conquer, but by per-
sistent efforts It can be done,
Experience has proved that it requires much
less time to keep garden entirely clear OF
weeds after year or two than it does to cul-
tivate Just enough to keep the land full OF
weeds, for 1t Is more work to hoe q weedy
garden once than 1t is to keep one clear OF
weeds well cultivated the whole season. Weeds
should never be permitted to get more thar
an inch in height before they are cut down.
| Then they will be sure to die, and will thus
be destroyed before they are large enough tC
injure the crop. II for any reason weeds In
the garden are permitted to get several incheI
high, the only effectual way to destroy then
is to pick them all up and carry them out Il
the garden. To secure success the work o.
destruction must be kept up throughout thu
| growing season, aud the work must not II
confined to the cultivated part Of the garden
but the weeds all around the borders must h
kept closely cut, so as to prevent any of then
from ripening any of their seeds here is on
of the fruitful sources of weed seeds that
very large proportion of the gardeners entire
! ly overlook. When the weeds are permitted
to grow and ripen their seeds on the border
of the garden, there will be seeds enough t
to cover the whole garden.
Tnose who have once mastered the weed
in their garden will never be satisfied to g
back to the practice of fighting the weed
during the spring and summer, and permittin
enough 10 seed in the autumn that the figh
may be continued each year, but they wi
carefully look over the garden during the la
ter part of the season, that they may remov
any weeds that have escaped the hoe or tn
cultivator. Do not give up the battle with tn
weeds until the cold weather prevents theI
from ripening their seed Edmund HerSe
| in Boston Journal