Pocahontas star herald. (Pocahontas, Randolph County, Ark.) 1907-current, 1910-09-23
Stumps, Brush, Weeds and
Grass

w Y pay i"i ~
for stumps, weeds, brush and grass
than is required to support our Mu'
nicipal, County, State and Federal
governments, to endow all the col
leges and educate all the youths OF
the land; and we get no return. A
stump not only occupies valuable
space, but it prevents the use oil
improved implements for hetterand
more rapid tilhage of the soil. Inc
cost of farm labor is on the increase
with the certainty that this will
continue till the equation OF wages
on the farm and IN the town or
city is more equal. The remedy
for higher priced labor on the farm
is the use of more and better teams
and implements. If the day wage
on the farm Of the South advances
from s.75 to $3.50 then each farm
hand must pillow, plant, and cult
vate twice as many acres in a day
as he did before and this is an easy
problem. But the stumps must go
and the farmer who does not try
to get rid of them will soon be a
back number. The stamp farmer
pays about $500 an acre every year
for the privilege of having stumps
in his fields. In addition, there are
generally few feet Of untitled soil
around every field stump which pro
duces foul weeds and grasses to
seed the land.
What has been charged against
stumps applies with still more force
to trees, shrubs and brush patches
in the fields; dig, burn, destroy;
they are natural enemies Of the far
mer. Straighten out the sides OF
the field, square up the corners and
avoid the short rows as much as
p ossible; they increase the
work of tillage.
Farmers have become so accus-
toned to fgAtlng weeds and grass in
the cultivated fields that they regret
it as a matter of necessity. They |
think the land is full of foul seed
and of course they will germinate
when it rains.
When virgin soils are first placed
in cultivation they are comparative
Iy free frem weeds and grass, and
that they become foul is due to faul-
ty management on the part of the
farmers. 1t is not difficult to dis
cover the real causes. First, care
less cultivation, which allows weeds
and grass to mature seed in the cul-
tivated fields. Second, Little at
tention is paid to the highways,
the brush patches, the fence corners
and the pastures, and they are almo
universally breeding grounds for
foul weeds and grass. 1t has been
charged that the Southern farmer is
careless. 1t may be true in some
things, but in one thing too many
of them stand first among the farm
ers of the world, they never fail
to raise crop of weed and grass
seed large enough to seed their own
fields and their neighbors.'
The cost of this universal weed |
and grass seeding amounts annually |
to more than five dollars for each
acre III corn, and ten dollars for
each acre in cotton. In 1909 in the
States of Alabama, Arkansas, Flor
ida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississ
ippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma,
South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas,
aud Virginia, there were 40, 965, 900
acres in corn and so, 1898, 600 acres
in cotton, which would show a
yearly loss of over 5ll millions of
dollars. This loss can be greatly
reduced by intensive cultivation
continued as late in the season as
possible and by moving the road
sides, the fence corners, the borders
of the field and the pastures in June
and in August. At first it seems
like waste of labor, but its benef.
cial efforts soon become apparent.
A persistent war on weeds and
grass, stumps and brush, in the