A Short Sermon. 363 



done by weeds in a year. Nearly all owners would, doubtless, be 

 greatly surprised. We are used to having weeds around, more or 

 less, and we do not realize the damage they do. There is only a 

 certain amount of plant food available each year, just so many 

 pounds and no more, and every ounce used up by weeds is lost to 

 the crop for that season. Weeds should not, as a rule, be allowed 

 to ever get beyond the seed leaf in our hoed crops. Our grain 

 fields should be clean, and our grass and clover. Of course, we 

 cannot keep every single weed down, but we can, by long-contin- 

 ued systematic effort, prevent all loss, practically ; and the cost 

 is small in comparison with the profit, with the tools we have 

 now. A man can sprout the seeds when he is preparing his land 

 for winter wheat, and then kill the young plants. He can thus 

 keep his wheat clean until it and the sown grass and clover 

 occupy the land. He can mow the stubbles and prevent weeds 

 going to seed almost entirely, and let the grass and clover have 

 the plant food. He can have from one to two tons (dry weight) 

 of clover on a new seeded piece in the fall, or the same or more 

 of rag weed, or other foul stuff, just as he pleases. This isn't 

 new at all ; it is an old, old story ; but how very few there are 

 who really have clean farms ! Perhaps I notice this more than 

 some, because I have been trying, without a let-up, for many 

 years, to prevent weeds from doing me any injury. Some seven 

 years ago, after speaking on this subject at an institute, an old 

 gentleman jumped up very quickly, after I sat down, and said : 

 " This is true, every word of it, that we have heard, but I never 

 thought much about it before. I paid my taxes to-day," he added, 

 ' ' and I growled a good deal about having to pay so much. But 

 I have been thinking, during the last few minutes, that I paid a 

 larger tax to the pesky weeds last season, and never growled a 

 bit. Now, gentlemen, you may laugh at me if I pay much more 

 of this sort of tax." And he sat down, while the house resounded 

 with cheers. It would seem as though enough had been said on 

 this point, in different parts of this book, to fully place the mat- 

 ter before you. Are you going to do like the old gentleman ? If 

 not, what you need most certainly is to give more earnest heed to 

 what you have heard. 



Much has been said about underdraining in this book. It 

 is not new ; you have heard it before. Thousands of acres of 

 potatoes, corn, oats and wheat were ruined or seriously injured 

 in this section this excessively wet season of 1892. Thorough 

 tile drainage would have prevented most of the loss. I once 

 noticed two pieces of wheat put in in this town, side by side, on 

 almost flat clay land. One contained sixteen acres, and the other 

 twelve. The land was alike and good. But one piece was tile- 

 drained, and the other was not. The wheat was all put in about 

 the same time. The piece not drained looked rather the best in 

 the fall, but both made a fine growth and promised a large crop. 



