368 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Aug. 



and drive out nearly every other plant. We 

 know of no hieans of eradicating it short of 

 thorough and persistent cultivation. 



Another of these pests is the white weed 

 of our fields, or ox-eye daisy. Darlington, 

 in his work on Weeds and Useful plants, 

 says, "this vile intruder is becoming a great 

 nuisance in our country. In some districts 

 the careless, slovenly farmers, have permitted 

 it to got almost exclusive possession of their 

 fields, rendering them (juite white when the 

 plant is in bloom." 



So far as our experience goes, we have 

 found this an utterly worthless plant. Cattle 

 will not eat it, nor horses or swine. It is a 

 tough, bitter weed, and detestable on the 

 farm. It is not only the careless farmer who 

 suffers, but those who cultivate with great 

 care, as well ; who think they are sowing pure 

 seed, but find too late, that it was a mixture 

 of abominations. Or, he may sow pure seed, 

 and foul ones may come over from his neigh- 

 bor's fields and corrupt all his crops. This, 

 too, is a native of Europe. It has one merit. 

 It is large enough to get hold of. It starts in 

 the spring before the grass does, and on a 

 good soil keeps ahead of it. It grows in 

 bunches when it gets a strong hold of the 

 soil, and is two or three years old. It flowers 

 all along from June to August. 



Our object in referring to these pests at the 

 present time, is to call the attention of the 

 farmer to them at a season when he has power 

 over the larger ones, such as the white weed, 

 the succory, and five or six kinds of dock 

 weeds, and can commence a war of extermi- 

 nation upon them in his grass lands. 



They will be in a rank condition early in 

 June, and about putting forth their first blos- 

 soms. They can be plainly seen, so that a 

 person with a sharp hoe can cut up an im- 

 mense number of them in the course of a day. 

 Striking at their roots at this period of their 

 growth, greatly retards them, so that they 

 will scarcely blossom again until the grass is 

 cut. They are then checked again, but if the 

 season is favorable they will start up and at- 

 tempt to blossom in the latter part of August, 

 when they should be cut up again. 



By some labor bestowed in this way a grass 

 crop may be saved for several years, and tlius 

 repay in a four-fold degree for all the cost of 

 checking or destroying them. 



For the New England FuTtner. 

 USES OF THE FOHESTS. 



HY EMORY A. ELI-.SWOUTH. 



As our love for the study of the botanical 

 ' kingdom leads us during the svunmer months 

 to travel through dilFerent portions of New 

 England in pursuit of such representatives of 

 its ditierent ordci's and genera as can be found 

 within the lunits of these States, we likewise 

 ; notice, and with nearly as nmch interest, the 

 prevailing modes of operation among the far- 

 mers of these different sections. 



Among the existing practices so dangerous 

 to the future progress of agriculture, there is 

 none with which we are acquainted which casts 

 upon the path of our agricultural prosperity a 

 more gloomy shadow, and fills the heart of 

 the observing man with deeper feelings of 

 anxiety for our future welfare as an agricul- 

 tural people, than the thoughtless and waste- 

 ful manner in which our hills have been de- 

 nuded of their forests. The old woods are 

 everywhere being swept away and nothing is 

 being done to check or provide for this re- 

 moval. How many farmers, in this and ad- 

 joining States, own acres of land which would 

 be far more profitable to them and useful to 

 the community if restored to the forest, than 

 in its present condition. The raising of for- 

 est trees, as a crop, is far more remunerative 

 than the cultivation of many of the crops 

 which are raised on the poorer qualities of 

 land. Many a farmer will smile at the idea 

 of cultivating forest trees ; but the period has 

 arrived in their history, when art must come 

 to their aid. If he would see the now naked 

 and barren fields clothed once more in ver- 

 dure, profitable in itself and serviceable in 

 protecting other things, he must plant and 

 cultivate them as deliberately as he would any 

 other crop. 



Now, as the preservation and improvement 

 of the still remaining primeval forests, and 

 the planting and cultivation of new ones, is in 

 the highest degree important to all, and, since 

 an extended and abiding improvement is above 

 private effort, every citizen should do all which 

 comes within his power to bring about this 

 much desired end ; and since no observing 

 person can fail to notice the many benefits and 

 uses of the forest to mankind, perhaps the in- 

 terest and co-operation retjuired to effect this 

 change can be no sooner awakened than by 

 bringing once more to the minds of the peo- 

 ple the benefits whi(!h have departed as the 

 woods have been swept away. 



Among the benefits of the forest to the far- 

 mer more than to others, may be mentioned 

 that of creating and gradually improving the 

 soil. Year by year, as the roots penetrate 

 deeper and spread wider beneath the surface 

 of the earth, the air is allowed to penetrate to 

 produce its decomposing effects. The root- 

 lets slowly break up the coarser parts of the 

 soil and extract from them their essential 



