The Progress., 1893-09-02
h-n...nR Iarnfri Me..,s.

Most OF our American farmers look
on weeds as a matter of course. and
never seem to get the idea that a
farm can be SC managed rs to become
Tree from wesds; so they look on
with placid Indifference while the
crab-grass. fox-tail, morning -glories
and various kinds of burrs and
needles overrun tho cornfields after
cultivation ceases. and the rag weed
hides the clover in the stubble fields.
and the garden is hidden by mixed
mass OF weeds so that il is necessary
20 hunt for the potatoes with a
scythe and pitchfOrk when it. comes
time TO dig them. This carelessness
and indifference suggests that good
can be done by fighting weeds with
the pen, and that tho most essential
thing to do is to convince farmers,
first. chat weeds impose a heavy and
unnecessary tax on them. and second.
that by intelligent management they
can be subjugated. If tho farmers of
Europe need clean fields, we neod
them much more. for they can hire
about three hands a day for what one
costs us; and so, while they possibly
might afford to cultivate weedy
fields. we certainly cannot
One OF the greatest helps in subju-
eating weeds is clover. writes w. II
Bowen in the Country Gentleman. for
two bodies cannot occupy the same
space at the same time, and t. fields
are well set with clover there is
much less room Or weeds. 4 thick
stand Of clover shades the soil and
keeps it moist. which is favorable TO
tho termination of seeds, and then
smOthers them in their infancy
Glover is thickened aud benefited
by cutting, while most of our peren-
nial weeds arc killed by cutting.
A field so seeded with rag-weed
that it takes full possession of tho
soil can be thoroughly cleansed in
FIVE years by the use of clover, and
by moving the stubble the last of July
or first of August. | lave field on
which this plan has been followed.
and five weeks ago il was planted to
potatoes. An examination of it yes
terday showed it to be clean OF
weeds. although 1t has rained so in
cessantly that we have not been able
to go on IL at all, but a strip eight
feet wide, where row of corn
shocks stood, had no clover on il.
and late last fall ripencd n crop of
weed seed. aud on this strip there
is now a mat of weeds.
One must study the habits Of plants
TO fight weeds intelligently, and
know the conditions under which
they mature seed, and how they prop
agate and scatter, to fight them
successfully. Somo weeds are most
likely to spread in pastures end others
on cultivated land. OF some varieties
the seed will come up early in the
spring and with others the battle
must be continued all summer. Some
weeds are comparatively harmless on
clay uplands. but run riot on rich
bottoms. / read that when the first
Colorado potato beetle was seen in
Germany the cabinet was convened
TO take prompt measures for its
destruction. and there are some weeds
30 persistent and difficult to cradi-
cate that il one is discovered on a
farm every man. woman and child
should be informed OF it's character
and enlisted in the fight against it.
On many OF our bottom farms where
corn Is grown most of the time the
common blue morning glory Is the
worst pest that was ever introduced,
and it is we'll nigh impossible to eradi-
cate il. 1t comes up soon after the
corn Is laid by and grows until the
vines reach from hill to hill, so that
one can scarcely get through the
fields II you try 10 cut the corn up
to save the fodder you will have to
cut IL at both ends. and a man walk
ing through the field gets tangled in
the vines
One ought carefully to inspect all
seeds which he buys and refuse those
containing q mixture. i introduced
the morning-glory referred to by
buying a bushel OF beans. and 1t has
only been by constant watchfulness
and vigilance that | have kept it
from spreading over my farm. and
although for ghteen summers ]
have hunted for 1t and destroyed
every plant could find. have not
yet exterudnated It, A few years
ago | bought some alsike clover seed
that contained seed of the ox-eye
daisy. but 1 am not apprehensive OF
trouble from 1t. as IL is confined to n
pasture aud does not seem 70 be
spreading.