The Breckenridge news. (Cloverport, Ky.) 1876-1955, 1900-01-31

fthu DtiOTt Tue EcCtub IdILhfio AHobitutO
by Hon. VIM. (Fish) Cook, whom we all
loye to call the Usage Of Rural Neck:
Somebody hoe ssked me to write
something or netting about weeds
for this mee.r Weeds are like bad
habits or bad CON pany or bad thoughts,
plentiful aud easily found but not cas-
lily overcome and destroyed. Weeds are
the curse Of the material world just as
sin is the curse Of the moral world. 1t
is strange that weeds should grow so easy
and so plentiful just by themselves, and
corn should be so hard to raise by plant
ing and work. In this world the fact is
the good and useful can only be secured
by brain work, hard work and muscle
work. There once certainly was better
time and condition of things on this
earth than exist nowadays. There is a
remnant of signs and of fact, that man
was once better than ne is now, and
that the earth, the mother OF the living,
was purer and more fruitful of good than
at present.
1t looks and feels as il the fruits of the
garden have degeneTated. and the sweet
apples turned to sour ones, the wheat
turned to cheat, and the timothy turned
to crab grass The great big question is,
how to get back to original conditions
and principles. Man in all his work and
wisdom has failed, and left things in Just
as bad fix as he found them. Som sthing
like two thousand years ago strange
man appeared on earth in strange man
ner and under strange conditions When
in full manhood he talked strangely and
did strange things that COMPOUNDED the
wise, and has made the moral world
cleaner and better from that good day to
this; but as far as we know has not made
one weed less in the field or garden or
one sour grape a sweet one.
To speak OF weeds more definitely l
have not time or space. AS good defini-
tfon as / have ever seen of weed is
this "a plant out of place" This
would indicate that most anything, how |
ever useful in its place, becomes an evil |
out of its place, and many things that
may be called bad in one place, If they |
were in a different place would be
accepted as good and useful. l have
seen it written and believe it true, that
weeds, as a rule, are benefit, and not
curse under certain conditions and cir
cumstances. To make crops grow and
make bread, and worlds living, the
soil must be titled by pillow and harrow
and hoe. This appears to be as neces-
sary as the winds blow in the tree tops
or the frosts bite to make the harvest
ripe. heard an expert bee culturist
say that bee moths were a blessing to
the intelligent beekeeper, and not an
evil, because these moths would make
the beekeeper keep his hives filed with
bees, so that there would be no room or
place for the moth. l know the man
who said that told the truth. And so il
is, if you have hill Of corn or potatoes
growing, a weed can't grow in the same
hill.
1t is said, and l expect it is true, that
every year the weeds eat up one-third of
the plant food in the soil OF our fields
and orchards and gardens. And what
does all this amount to? 1t is robbing
millions Of mouths of bread. Show me
the farm overrnn with weeds and briars,
and the fence rows hid with brars and
brush, and will show you farm with
a lean crib and lean smoke house and
a mortgage in the clerks office. Neglect
your schools and churches, and moral
family control, and moral darkness and
weeds, the soul despoiler, will soon have
dominion. Neglect the farm and soon
the weeds and the wild sprouts and the
worthless grasses will take possession and
plumber your fields and starye your fam
lily.
The stern fact is, all the good we get
in this world we have to work for, the
bad comes to us without work, either in
the moral or material world. Let me
say now and in conclusion: Permit less
weeds to grow in your fields and gardens
and orchards and you will raise more
crops. more fruits and more vegetables.
What are weeds and how to kill them
opens up big field. Accept it as fact
that "plant out of place" is a weed,
whether it is third stalk in corn hill
or cockle.burr in the row, digit up, cut
it off or pillow it out. Bad weeds, bad
insects and bad farming is bringing a
power OF trouble on our country. 1t is
hoped by our best and wisest men that
better days are dawning.
Weeds, wherever water flows and
trees grow on the face OF the earth, exist.
Weeds are natural and inherit the earth,
while corn is unnatural and must be
cultivated. The natural rule is that
wrongs prevail and the right must be