No. 7. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 345 



tered in handling the hay. As long as such seeding is practiced 

 on any farm land, rich or poor, weeds will increase instead of di- 

 minish, for no more elVectual plan for perpetuating weeds could 

 be devised. 



The new plan adopted to obviate the propagation of weeds was 

 to start preparing the land for grass about IS months beforehand by 

 turning a timothy sod free of weeds, well top-dressed, the previous 

 fall or two years before the grass seeding with the best and cleanest 

 fresli stable manure for a crop of ensilage corn. 



The plowing of the sod carefully and well done turning up side 

 down every furrow 12 inches wide — rolling followed, plowing never 

 iigiiiu, till tlie tield was plowed for another cr(»{>. Ihnrowing began 

 after rolling, using 'A diflerent harrows to ])ur the soli in the best 

 ccmdition at the least labor and cost. The held marked out so the 

 corn would be in a furrow below the surface of the held when it 

 first comes up. The third day after planting tlie weeder was run 

 over the tield, the fifth day the corn would be u]), strong and bright, 

 when it uiade its seccmd or third leaf the weeder was put on again, 

 but if it had rained and a crust was on the field too hnrd for the 

 weeder to do any execution, the one-horse cultivator wns spread 

 just wide enough to go once between the roAvs of corn without at- 

 tempting to mark or get close to the little stalks. The horse walked 

 in the middle between the rows and the wheel of the cultivator fol- 

 lowed in the horse's footprints. This plan broke the crust and left 

 a hne mellow soil to be worked over into the corn rows without cov- 

 ering the plants but hlling the groovje or trough in which the corn 

 was planted, covering the small weeds and killing millions not yet 

 born. The next work the corn received was with the riding culti- 

 vator, going close to the corn followed in n day or two by the 

 weeder and not a growing weed to be seen. The crop having arrived 

 at this stage there was no trouble to salivate the weeds <luring the 

 season by Ihe dust mulch well stirred while growing to retain soil 

 moisture. 



When the crop was ready for the silo there were no weeds. The 

 silo filled and the tield clean the two-horse cultivator works up the 

 corn stalk ground for seeding to rye as a cover crop to be turned 

 by Ihe ])low in the early spring for oats and ]teas. This last named 

 crop is the finest soil cleaner save that of buckwheat for freeing the 

 land of weeds and is splendid to jireceed the laying down of a 

 field to grass in August. 



To anyone interested in this method he is invited to observe the 

 manner of preparation. First the timothy sod manured and pre- 

 l)ared for corn ; the surface of the corn field worked all summer, 

 flien hoe harrowed for seeding rye, plowed in the spring for oats 

 and peas. Thus the land has had two plowings and one whole sum- 

 mer's surface work also prepared for the rye seeding by the cul- 

 tivator, all this looking forward to a clean giass field, free from 

 weeds by tillage together with the crop of jteas and oats that in its 

 dense growth will smother any weed that attempts to grow. The 

 peas and oats stubble is then manured daily with fresh stable 

 mnnure; this finished, the ])low is set to cut deei)er thnn for any 

 other crop on the farm, rolled once and harrowed till the soil 

 splashes when the feet of the team strike its surface in working. 

 By this time there is a seed bed from 3i to 4 inches deep in fine- 



