Fortunes for Farmers 



hand and the common sense of the people on the 

 other. Our object would be to drive all seeds into 

 the cleaning machinery, for which, no doubt, co- 

 operative warehouses would be established. One 

 cannot conceive any sane farmer sowing his own 

 unclean seed if he could send it to such a plant 

 simply to have the weeds removed; so that, 

 although this clause presents difficulty, in practice 

 it might solve itself. 



(3) For this we must look to our cattle inspector 

 (to be an inspector under the " Weeds Abolition 

 Act"), who will roam the country looking for 

 thistles and docks, notifying the offender that 

 unless he keeps them down, it will be done for 

 him, at his expense, and he fined in addition. 



(4) Clause 4 will compel the authorities to stop 

 the roadside weeds from spreading, and the farmer 

 to keep all hedgerows and dykes free. Lying there 

 in ambush, they annually infest the land in ter- 

 rible swarms, but must be scotched. 



Were these ideas materialized every one would 

 be in their favour — well, nearly all. In each locality 

 there are a few farmers whose fields are ablaze with 

 poppies, thistles, docks, and a splendid abundance 

 of all the weeds that blow, ready, at an appro- 

 priate time, to swarm in the breeze to neighbour- 

 ing farms. These will object: strongly! They will 

 be passive resisters, perhaps. . . . 



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