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forty bushels per acre,) and the abundant crop of weeds oc- 

 cupying such fields is unmistakeable and conclusive testimony 

 of the error committed. 



A hand can neither plow nor half tend so large an 

 area. Better save one half of the investment of money in a 

 farm and appropriate double the amount of labor; were this 

 course more general, our farming districts would present an 

 improved aspect. 



It is nothing unusual in many districts to find farms almost 

 overrun with weeds in consequence of bad tillage. Large 

 headlands being left of perhaps a pole in width, they are so 

 thickly set with these stealthy intruders, that a view of the 

 ci'op is almost impossible, and not unfrequently we find plats 

 in the middle of the field entirely abandoned to the weeds, 

 particularly if the spot be subjected to an overabundant supply 

 of moisture. We find this to be the case where a field has 

 been devoted to many successive crops of corn, the cause 

 being a supply of seeds scattered by weeds that have grown 

 after the crop has been laid by, which is sufficient to prove 

 that the crop has not had necessary attention. This cause 

 is evident from the fact, that upon newly broken sod, weeds 

 are scarce. Subject any ground to regular western rotation, 

 i. e., first year, corn ; second year, corn and weeds; third 

 year, weeds and corn ; fourth year, weeds, and we will soon 

 have an unmanageable farm. Every farmer should endeavor 

 to cultivate no more ground than he can cultivate well, and 

 ill so doing be careful to return to the soil sufficient maure 

 or fertilizing substances to re-establish the richness of hi"* 

 ground. 



No general course of rotation being adopted, the same 

 ground is usually planted to corn for as many as ten or even 

 fifteen consecutive years. Many who have considered their 

 lands inexhaustible, and have followed this ruinous practice 

 since their first settlement in the county, now find their 

 farms nearly worn out, and are compelled to use various 

 means to restore their fertility. 



