KO. 23. 



THE FARMERS CABINET. 



361 



with this disease must be burnt. All the cat- 

 tle that die of the complaint should he buried 

 at least 5 feet deep, to prevent tiie flluvia, 

 that would otherwise arise from the carcass, 

 and inevitably spread the infection. 



Importance of Destroying AVccds^ 



The abundance in which weeds are seen 

 in some fields, shows conchisivoly that but 

 little of- the mischief caused by them is un- 

 derstood. Weeds are injurious to the land 

 and to the crop in almost every possible way 

 that they can be. In the first place they ex- 

 haust the soil to support their own useless 

 growth, and abstract tiiat nourishment from 

 it, which ought to go exclusively to support 

 the crop. Secondly, they crowd upon other 

 plants above ground, prevent them from 

 brandling out at tlicir roots, and deprive them 

 of a free circulation of air necessary for their 

 health and vigor, so that they shoot up only 

 single, weak, sickly stalks, incapable of pro- 

 ducing a valuable crop. Thirdly, they throw 

 oft' from the soil through their leaves into the 

 air, an almost incredible quantity of moisture, 

 and speedily reduce the ground to so dry a 

 state, as to be fit tor weeds only to grow in. 

 So enormous is the quantity thrown off by 

 some plants that it actually exceeds more 

 than twice their own weight in a single day. 

 A bunch of grass, placed during a very dry 

 season, under a large vessel, sent off moisture 

 in two minutes, so as to cover the vessel with 

 drops, which run down its sides. Dr. Wat- 

 son, who first performed this experiment, 

 was led to conclude from its results that an 

 acre of grass exhales more than thirty hogs- 

 heads a day. Plants are in fact but channels 

 through which moisture is conveyed up from 

 the soil to be dissipated in the air; hence the 

 absurdity of the opinion that weeds will pre- 

 vent the ground becoming dry by shading it. 

 Let any one in dry weather examine a piece 

 of perfectly bare soil, a few inches below the 

 surface, and compare its degree of moisture 

 with that of soil at an equal depth, near the 

 roots of a thick growth of weeds, and he will 

 find the difference astonishing. 



Now, of what use is it to attempt raising 

 crops if they are to be wasted by a growth of 

 weeds? Of what use is it to buy land, and 

 plough it, and prepare it, and put in the crops, 

 if after ail, these crops are suffered to be eal- 

 en up by such intruders? If a drove of cat- 

 tle should break into a field, no one would 

 think of resting a moment till they were 

 driven out; and yet many allow myriads of 

 noxious weeds to overspread their lands, often 

 doing three-fold more mischief, with scarcely 

 an effort to check their progress. And this 

 is not only permitted in cultivated fields, but 

 io meadows and pastures which are some- 



times literally covered with Canada thistles, 

 St. John's wort, and many other.", to the total 

 exclusion of every thing else from the soil. — 

 Germ an town Tdeg raji/i . 



Go tlic right ■\vi\y to workf brother 

 Farmer's. 



I am sorry there is so much need of the 

 admonitions 1 am about to give. Depend on 

 it, you do not " uork it right" or you would 

 make your farms and stock twice as valuable 

 as they now are. Many of you farm too 

 much. You would find it much more profit- 

 able to farm twenty acres wki.l, than forty 

 by halves. The last season I made my ground 

 produce at the rate of one hundred bushels of 

 Indian corn to the acre. Is this not much 

 better than a common crop of thirty or forty 

 bushels? You will certainly say it is, and 

 with the same breath ask how I manage to 

 make it produce so plentifully? My land 

 being much infested with ground mice, or 

 moles, and overrun with grubs and other ver- 

 min, I put on, early in the month of March, 

 about seven bushels of salt to the acre, which 

 thoroughly destroys all kinds cf vermin, being 

 an excellent strong manure, and ploughed 

 and worked the ground over and over until it 

 became completely mellow ; I then had every 

 corn hole filled with hog manure, and after 

 dropping my corn (which had been previously 

 soaked in warm water) I had scattered a pint 

 of lime over every hill, and then covered the 

 whole with a little mellow earth. In about 

 a week the corn began to come up plentiful- 

 ly, after which I nursed it with the plough 

 and hoe, every other week for eight weeks, 

 at which time it was as high as my head, and 

 not a spire of it was destroyed either by the 

 frost, grub or birds. My other things I ma- 

 nured and nursed equally well, and I have 

 been amply paid for all my extra care and 

 trouble, as I raised more than twice as much 

 much per acre as any of my neighbors, and 

 did it in much less time. I mean I got all 

 my harvesting done two or three weeks be- 

 fore many others. This is accomplished in a 

 great measure by redeeming time; rising be- 

 tween three and four o'clock in the morning ; 

 then if the day be very sultry and hot, I lie 

 by from twelve to three and rest. I then 

 feel refreshed and able to work until quite 

 dark. This I call '■'working it right ;" where- 

 as, should I lay in bed until the sun be up and 

 shame me, haunt the tavern at night, drink 

 whiskey, but half manure, half plough, half 

 plant, half nurse, half harvest, and do every 

 thing by halves, I surely should not ''work it 

 right" nor get a half crop. 



I shall now conclude by giving you for 

 further consideration, a few excellent observa- 

 tions from a wiser head, perhaps than my 



