No. 11. 



Weeds. 



855 



Weeds. 



If our young friend " Weed Puller" will 

 come down dogiredly to the task of pullinir 

 weeds and reading tlie " Cabinet," we Irave 

 DO doubt he will soon acquire the knowledge 

 of which he is in pursuit: he has chosen the 

 better part which cannot be taken away, and 

 in due time he will reap the fruit of his la- 

 bours, if he faint not. 



In the mean while, we would take leave 

 to recommend to him the mode practised by 

 tie best agriculturists in England, a mode 

 as applicable in this as in any other country, 

 and of importance in proportion to the quan- 

 tity of weeds to be eradicated — far greater 

 here than in any country which we have be- 

 fore seen, the soil and climate conspiring to- 

 gether to perfect a growth of three or four 

 years in the space of one. It is this : when 

 bo crop is on the land, to plough fur weeds, and 

 to do all in his power to exhaust the land of 

 them before sowing his crops, not leavin^r 

 tliis indispensable labour to be performed 

 after the crops are grown, when they will 

 often be found to interfere with the free use 

 of the plough. To this end let him deter- 

 mine, religiously, to turn up every acre of 

 land so soon as the crop is removed, espe- 

 cially immediately after harvest, turning the 

 soil to a depth rather greater than the surface- 

 staple ; laying it well up and over, by means 

 of very narrow furrows, so that the sod or 

 weeds, as may be, might be brought into 

 close contact with the bottom of the farrow, 

 and so fermentation might be engendered and 

 decomposition be brought about, the benefi- 

 cial effects of which will be very apparent in 

 the spring-course of crops ; which will be 

 found more easy of cultivation in conse- 

 quence of such autumnal ploughing. The 

 only cure for the train of " nuisances" which 

 he enumerates, is deep and effectual cultiva- 

 tion ; there is no royal road to agriculture, 

 any more than to geometry, but the common 

 road is plain and very agreeable to travel : 

 it is only to pursue it to the end, and no one 

 ever yet was beaten in a race against the 

 weeds, if they are attacked in the right way. 

 Some are to be overcome by the grubbing- 

 axe only, but in general the plough and the 

 hoe are sufficient, if they are put into requi- 

 sition early. 



On the subject of autumnal ploughing, we 

 received a lesson where we least expected 

 it. On a late visit to one of the adjoining 

 counties, we fell into conversation with a 

 farmer, who was hoe-harrowing his corn 

 amongst clods and half-decomposed turf, tliat 

 were a caution to look upon; and when we 

 told him, if we could grow corn in England 

 — which we admitted we could not, in con- 

 sequence of the coldness and moisture of the 



climate — that we should do so with leos than 

 half the labour than what he was bestowing, 

 by |)louijhing the land before winter in small 

 and (leei) furrows, for the purpose of decom- 

 posing the sod, and facilitating the sjiring 

 workinjr, he observed, he did not think there 

 would he much advantage to be derived from 

 that; " to be sure," said he, "you would got 

 rid of the cut-worm in the spring, bid thai is 

 nll.''^ On inquiring if that would assuredly 

 be the fact, he did not hesitate to declare it 

 would be so, " but that would be all." Now, 

 many of his neighbours were re-planting their 

 corn for the third time, in consequence of the 

 destruction occasioned by the cut-worm, and 

 he himself must have suffered as much, and 

 yet he considered the value of an autumnal 

 ploughing to be almost worthless ! 



In this visit, we were struck with astonish- 

 ment to see how little rarard was paid to the 

 growth of thistles, mulien, and other lari^e 

 and very pernicious weeds around the dwell- 

 ings, orchards and gardens, adjoining the 

 high road, which will soon be in a condition 

 to repay their owners ten tl;ousand-fold for 

 their leniency ; and we were reminded of a 

 country in Europe, where there is a law to 

 permit any one to go on his neiirhbour's 

 premises, for the purpose of cutting up the 

 weeds, to prevent them from shedding their 

 seeds, the owners of these being compelled 

 to defray the expense ! Any large weeds 

 may be destroyed by cutting just below the 

 ground, and filling the hollow thus made 

 with salt; if this is done during the time of 

 their vigorous growth and before they blos- 

 som, the salt is then taken up into circula- 

 tion, and the returning sap-vessels carry the 

 poison to the extent of the root to any depth. 

 Flowering buds, or seeds, have no returning 

 sap-vessels, and this is the cause why no 

 crops exhaust the soil in any sensible degree, 

 until they begin to flower and to perfect their 

 seeds. We assure " Weed Puller," nothing 

 is easier than to extirpate weeds, if they are 

 taken by the right end. — Ed. 



Every man may read in his own breast 

 what he ought to do, or to avoid, under all 

 circumstances; all that is required, when our 

 interest happens to be in opposition to that 

 of another is, to inquire witliin, how we 

 should wish to be treated in a similar situa- 

 tion, and to listen, during the course of this 

 j)roceeding, whether our heart is tranquil and 

 satisfied. 



ExperimciH and cnlculatiun are the grand 

 basis of true agricultural science, a science 

 of which the dawn at present manifests it- 

 self, and of which the perfect day will ulti- 

 mately illumine our posterity. 



