1871. 



NEW ENGLAND FAR]\IER. 



499 



of an unweeded acre was thirteen bushels ; of 

 the weeded, twentj'-eight bushels per acre ; 

 thus showing a difference of fifteen bushels 

 per acre, besides the enormous advantage of 

 having the land cleared for the next crop. 



3. Of six acres sown with oats, one acre, 

 unmanured and unweeded, yielded only seven- 

 teen bushels ; the rest ploughed three times, 

 manured and weeded, produced thirty-seven 

 bushels to each acre. 



It will be remembered, perhaps, that the 

 English practice is to weed their grain crops, 

 whether of wheat, barley or oats. They 

 usually sow in drills, which makes the weeding 

 much less difficult than in broadcast sowing. 



Destroy the 'Weeds. 



After they once commence the work of hay- 

 ing, many farmers are extremely reluctant to 

 leave it to perform any other work. It is 

 quite certain, however, that there will be more 

 or less of other work to be done everj- year, 

 during the season of securing the hay crop. 

 One item of this work is to destroy the weeds. 



Farmers leave haying to secure a wheat, 

 oat, or barley crop, because it would be a de- 

 cided loss to let it stand ; but the same per- 

 sons will allow a luxuriant weed ci'op to perfect 

 its seed and be scattered over many acres of 

 the farm. This is abundantly evident every 

 year to those who travel through farming dis- 

 tricts. If one should come and sow an equal 

 amount of vile seed over the farm, he would 

 undoubtedly be prosecuted and heavily fined, 

 as he should be, for such a misdemeanor. 



Cannot both branches of duty be attended 

 to in their proper season, so that neither shall 

 suffer ? We think they can. 



In the first place, do not allow the work 

 among the hoed crops to be delayed. Com- 

 mence on the young corn, potatoes, and aU 

 other plants, as soon as they are fairly out of 

 the ground, and, taking them in turn, go over 

 them two or three times. When this is done, 

 it must be a very foul soil that will produce 

 many weeds before the first of August. If it 

 does produce them, it is more economical to 

 extirpate them by a day or two of labor tha^n 

 to allow them to stand. If not disturbed, they 

 will probably injure the crops among which 

 they grow, more than the grass would be in- 

 jured by a few days' delay in cutting. Added 

 to this, will be the serious evil of having the 

 fields lavishly filled with the seeds of a variety 



of hardy and persistent weeds, which may re- 

 main as a pest for many years. 



If, on the approach of the haying season, 

 the grass fields are examined, and those that 

 are the earliest matured are cut first, and this 

 course followed throughout, the postponement 

 of cutting a few acres for a day or two 

 would not be attended with a loss at all com- 

 parable with that of allowing a crop of weeds 

 to go to seed. There might be exceptional 

 cases, but not many. 



Farmers continually complain of the great 

 labor required to keep down weeds, while the 

 wormwood and pig weeds are breast-high 

 among the corn hills and along the edges of 

 their fields. So acres upon acres of potatoes 

 present the appearance of a crop of worthless 

 plants, the potato vines being completely over- 

 shadowed by them. The crop of tubers will 

 probably come out in proportion to the vines 

 which struggled for life over them. 



The great loss to the farmer in subduing 

 weeds, and the loss they cause in exhausting, 

 the power of the soil, which ought to go to the 

 crops we are cultivating, are not yet appre- 

 ciated. More attention should be given this, 

 matter by every one who has a crop to tend. . 

 It is bad enough to tight fhe insects over which 

 we have little control, but it is a greater evil 

 to see pestilent plants destroying the crops, 

 and entailing losses upon generations to come. 



"Weeds on the Highways. 



Weeds are undoubtedly the most expensive 

 crop a farmer can grow. Some farmers are 

 aware of this, and will not allow them to grow 

 in their fields. They are subject, however, every 

 year to the cost of destroying those which have 

 been sown by other persons upon their lands. . 

 Every farmer who allows burdocks and this- 

 tles to grow and perfect their seeds on the 

 I roadsides against his fields, virtually sows their 

 seeds upon his neighbor's land. 



In some countries, there are laws under 

 which a farmer may bring suit against his 

 neighbor, who neglects to destroy weeds in 

 his fields, or upon the public highways adjoin- 

 ing his premises. There was such a law, we 

 think, in Massachusetts, some years ago, in 

 regard to what is called the Canada thistle, — 

 and it operated beneficially. 



In Denmark there is a law to oblige the far- 

 mers to root up the corn marigold, and a. 

 clause enforcing the extirpation of weeds in. 



