I. AGRICULTURE AND RURAL ECONOMY. t 313 



I. AGRICULTURE AND RURAL ECONOMY. 



SULPHURIC ACID FOE DESTROYING WEEDS IN LAWNS. 



A writer in an English journal suggests the use of ordinary 

 sulphuric acid, or oil of vitriol, as an excellent agent for the 

 destruction of weeds on lawns. The difficulty of eradicating 

 such unsightly elements of the lawn is well understood, since 

 to do so satisfactorily requires the removal of a large amount 

 of dirt, producing a corresponding injury to the general ap- 

 pearance. By taking the acid in question, and allowing a few 

 drops to fall into the crown of any obnoxious weeds, it will 

 turn them brown in an instant, and ultimately cause the 

 death of the plant. Great care must of course be taken to 

 prevent any of the acid from falling upon the skin or any ar- 

 ticle of clothing ; but, with ordinary care, a large amount of 

 surface can be treated in a short time with most excellent 

 results. 2 A^May 14,1870, 352. 



ECONOMY OF LONG FURROWS IN PLOWING. 



A German agricultural journal observes that farmers usu- 

 ally pay very little attention to the length of the furrows to 

 be plowed in a field, and yet great waste of time and labor is 

 the necessary consequence of unsuitable arrangements in this 

 respect. The turning of the plow and the commencing of a 

 new furrow requires more exertion in the plowman and the 

 team than continued work on a straight line ; and how great 

 may really be the loss of time from frequent interruptions in 

 short turns may be shown by the following calculation. In 

 a field 225 feet long, five and a half hours out often are used 

 in redirecting the plow ; with a length of 575 feet, four hours 

 are sufficient for the purpose ; and when the plow can pro- 

 ceed without interruption for 800 feet, only one and a half 

 hours of the daily working time are consumed. Hence the 

 rule to make the furrows as long as circumstances will ad- 

 mit. 10 C\ May, 52. 



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