The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-01-03
A NEEDLESS GARDEN.
SUSAN y. DIXIE.

! suppose there must be many anna
tours that must learn by experience
how to fight that potent enemy in the
garden. the weed. by the mercst acc.-
dent | learned how TO get the better OF
this pest, and while my discovery may
not be new to the gardeners at large,
1t was a revelation to me, and [ hope
this article may meet the eye OF many
il they are equally ignorant Of this
met hud.
Every amateur knows how difficult II
is to start slowly terminating seeds
without the troublesome work Of get
ting rid Of The little weeds that always
come ahead of the desired plant and
when they are pulled out Of the seed
box or hothcd or garden they pull the
valued seedlings with them 80 that to
get rid of the weeds one must sacrifice
many valuable plants.
one season we were clearing up and
We made fire in the garden Of lot
Of tree branches, prunlnRs. Old leaves
and general garden rubbish. To hasten
the combustion We poured over the
trash "A gallon OF petroleum. II spread
the fire all around. made fierce blaze,
and after the embers were spaded in
We planted that garden space with car
rots, parsley and parsnip seed. very
slowly terminating things. and for the
first time in all of my years of expert
enCe those vegetables Cnmc up without
weeds ahead Of them. The tiresome
labor of wedding those beds was en-
tiiely eliminated and the vegetables
werr remarkably thrifty. Later used
III" soil from this bed to fiji seed boxes.
hotbcds and flower pots, and repeated
the fire before all the later PAINTINGS
N the other garden beds. so now I
am the happy victor over my small
but potent enemy, the weed.
Since making my discovery | have
learned that there is a machine for
I large fields To carry burning naphtha.
but that 1t also destroys the valuable
humus In the soil that must he re-
placed to preserve the fertility. simply
used bone meal leaf mould from tho
woods and "A compost made II sod from
an old clean pasture and manure from
the poultry yard Stable manure can
never be used in the garden without
great labor in destroying the weeds
. mat follow. 1t Is not worth It II COM
mercisl manures and rotten turf can
be obtained. \ good compost heap has
been called aptly the gardeners saving
hank. and It certainly pays good in
terest 60 the depositors. one season in
my callow youth | ruined fine lawn
by covering II in the winter with a
heavy mulch II manure The follow
ing spring when ! was on the ,.ptoe OF
, expectation Of velvety turf, what was
my dismay to see springing up all over
H. wire grass, dandel!on and fifty-seven
varieties Of dock. The lawn mower
/ fnBraNts
and the precious blue grass and clover
soon gave up the struggle for existence
and my veNation scared my soul with
muttercd misery as | cazcd~N,n the ruin
my Ignorance had wrought Then
learned that an agricultural experiment
station had issued bulletin on weeds
and the best method OF their destruc-
| ton. sent the stamps. obtained the
| pamphlet, and sat down to drink at
] tha' fountain Of wisdom. Well the
/ first chapter was all about this weed
/ the second all about that weed rhe
/ third chapter all about the other weed
and 50 on ad inlnitum. soon learned
the various types Of perennial. b!ennla,
| and the dubious. especially the wild
garlic, and finally the last page was
reached TO give the method for their
swift destruction Now what do you
\ think +; was? Why they must he
pulled up and burned, Nothing short
Of the Nobel prize ought 10 he awarded
10 this great discOverer. How small a
man Christopher Columbus seemed 10
me after reading this pamphlet. 7
nm wondering still which was the
greater offender the manure which
/ killed my grass or the man that !
Il killed In my heart for writing that
book