452 



KEW ENGLAND FAEINIER. 



Oct. 



IMPOBTANCE OF HOEING. 



FTER the farmer once begins 



to get the hay crop, that 



business is apt to take pre- 



>y^^ \ AV-sA cedence of all others. The 



crops which ought to be 

 vhoed, and which have been 

 ^ tended with care up to this 

 time, are neglected, and 

 they become foul with weeds, 

 // JAlW'll ^ome of which are likely to 

 J 'it ^ go to seed and thus infest 

 /I the soil for many years to 



come. In addition to this evil, the surface of 

 the soil becomes hard and crusty, so that the 

 fertilizing action between the soil and atmos- 

 phere is greatly interrupted, and, consequent- 

 ly, the growth of the crop is retarded. 



Soon after haying, the^small grains require 

 attention, and thus the corn, potatoes, and 

 root crops are too much neglected. 



The labor of destroying weeds on the farm, 

 through an ordinary lifetime, is, in the aggre- 

 gate, immense. Like the rolling stone of Sisi- 

 phus, which always went back again the mo- 

 ment he got it to the top of the hill, so it is 

 with the weeds. One crop begets another, 

 and new kinds are introduced, until our soils 

 are crowded with spurious plants which are a 

 burden and a plague. 



The farmer cannot afford to let them grow 

 among his cultivated plants, because they ex- 

 clude light and heat from them, and in a gen- 

 eral way impoverish the soil. 



There are several ways by which we may 

 greatly prevent their increase. The first is 

 by the most thorough destruct on of them this 

 season. Even at the postponement for a time 

 of some other things, do not allow a weed to 

 ripen, and thus increase its kind. 



In order to succeed in the destruction of 

 weeds, we must not rely too much upon the 

 hoe. Where they have become rank there is 

 nothing so efficient as the hand. Tear them 

 out by the roots before the seeds are matured 

 sufficiently to germinate, and then it will be 

 safe to throw them into the hog-yard, or un- 

 der the cattle or horses in their stalls. If 

 the seeds are formed, and would probably 

 sprout under favorable circumstances, throw 

 them into heaps, and burn them when dry, or 

 allow them to pass into a high degree of fer- 

 mentation ; high enough, at any rate, to de- 



stroy the vitality of the seeds, without regard 

 to the value of the plants as manure. 



In using the hoe, we generally go forward, 

 and many of the weeds are pulled out of the 

 soil, brought towards us, then trodden into 

 the loose earth, and are thus in condition to 

 grow again. Fields are sometimes seen cov- 

 ered with a dirty growth of various kinds of 

 weeds, hoed out in cloudy weather, where one 

 or two roots only, perhaps, were buried in 

 the soil, and just enough to keep the weed 

 alive. The second hoeing is more expensive, 

 and vastly more disagreeable in such a field, 

 than the first was. 



Some implement should be used that will 

 lift the weeds out of the soil and drag them a 

 little on the surface before leaving them. In 

 this situation the sun will wilt them, if the day 

 is clear, so that they will not revive. They 

 are then of some value to the soil. 



For this purpose, the Wheel Hoe is an ex- 

 cellent implement. It not only leaves most 

 of the weeds on the surface, but the operator 

 can run with it close to rows of plants where 

 they are in straight lines, and can accomplish 

 more work and do it better, than three men 

 can with common hoes. 



Another mode of preventing an increase of 

 weeds, is, to cut grass where white weed and 

 other obnoxious plants are mingled wiihit, 

 before the weed seeds are matured. This 

 will be the best course, even at the expense 

 of some loss in the grass crop. 



Thousands of acres in New England are 

 overrun with sorrel, white weed, dock, or 

 some other weed, where they are allowed to 

 stand until one-half of their seeds are so far 

 matured as to grow again when applied to the 

 land, mingled with manure in the spring. 



Most farmers collect a heap of materials 

 through the summer and autumn to be used 

 as a top-dressing. This heap is likely to con- 

 sist of a variety of green plants, sweepings of 

 the barn, loam, muck, and all quickly decom- 

 posing materials that can be obtained. There. 

 is danger lurking in such a heap, and it is bet- 

 ter to let it pass into a high degree of fer- 

 mentation, by an occasional moistening and 

 turning over, than to run the risk of sowing 

 millions of seeds, to throw up millions of ob- 

 noxious plants. The loss of manure by un- 

 due fermentation will be trifling compared 

 with the damage done by sowing the seeds of 

 rank, troublesome and worthless plants. 



