plant in rows two inches apart and thin out 
as they grow. I transplant peppers from 
the seed-bed direct to where they are to 
grow. 
--»--«-•» ♦ -—. 
“Fighting* Weeds.” 
We meet frequently with this heading to 
paragraphs in exchanges. It conveys a 
wrong lesson, as commonly used. Simple 
and quiet extermination is better. If 
weeds are allowed to get a foot in height, 
a warfare is then begun and carried on to 
an indefinite length of time, and the weeds 
often come off victorious. The usual 
cause of this failure is in attempting to 
cultivate too much land with a small force. 
The result is an enormous growth of 
weeds, a choking and diminution of the 
crop, and a supply of noxious seeds to fill 
the soil and last for years. The weeds get 
entire possession in this way, and the 
crops have an unequal chance until another 
plowing checks them temporarily. 
The remedy is a well arranged plan for 
going over the gronnd once a week, in all 
hoed crops, sweeping the surface, killing 
all weeds before they come up. All this 
work is more than paid for in the increas¬ 
ed growth of the crops by this continued 
stirring, provided the right tools are em¬ 
ployed. Take the corn crop for instance. 
The plow and the harrow will prepare a 
clean, mellow bed of earth before planting. 
If the field is inverted sod, it may be re¬ 
duced to a state of fine pulverization with 
the harrow. By planting the seed an inch 
and a half or two inches deep, in the shal¬ 
low furrow made by the marker, a fine 
slant-tooth harrow may be passed over 
both before and after the plants are up 
without injury to them. The operation 
may be continued once a week until the 
corn is a foot high. Some of the plants 
may be bent over, but they will be erect 
again in a day or two. After this a shallow 
cultivator may be run between the rows 
till the corn is as high as the horse’s back. 
This work, properly performed, will leave 
the field as clean as the floor—the small 
slant teeth killing the sprouting seed in 
the row and among the plants as well as 
over the whole surface; and the subsequent 
cultivating keeping the spaces clean 
between the rows. * We have never seen 
cleaner fields than such as were treated in 
this way, and the cost of this labor, first 
and last, was less than the old hand-hoeing. 
But it must not be forgotten that the 
first attempt will be a failure if the neces¬ 
sary work is intermitted and the weeds get 
a start. It is indespensably necessary te 
keep them constantly under the surface. 
There must be no “fighting,” but suppres¬ 
sion and extermination. 
% 
The potato crop may be treated in the 
same way until the plants are five or six 
inches high, after which the leaves would 
be somewhat lacerated with the harrow. 
Carrots, beets and turnips are too small in 
early growth and require clean soil in ad¬ 
vance, with frequent passing of the culti¬ 
vator between the rows, which, as they 
become larger by growth, require a culti¬ 
vator that may be contracted in breadth. 
—Farming World. 
A Formal Poem. 
• 
Whereas on sundry boughs and sprays 
Now divers birds are heard to sing, 
And sundry flowers their heads upraise. 
Hail to the return of spring. 
The songs of those said birds arouse 
The memory of our youthful hours; 
As green as those said sprays and boughs. 
As fresh and sweet as those said flowers. 
The birds aforesaid, happy pairs. 
Love, ’mid the aforesaid boughs enshrines 
In freehold nest — themselves, their heirs, 
Administrators, and assigns. 
Oh! busiest term of Cupid’s court, 
Where tender plaintiffs actions bring, 
Season of frolic and of sport — 
Hail, as aforesaid, coming spring. 
It was a mean fellow who went to the 
circus and slyly hooked on the sacred white 
elephant’s railing the sign: “Don’t touch 
the paint.” 
When you have had Catarrh long enough, just 
send 10c. to Dr. R. C. Sykes, 181 Monroe St., Chicago, 
for his “True Theory of Catarrh.” 
“What is syntax?” asked the teacher. 
“A saloon license is sin tax,” shouted the 
son of a prohibitionist. 
A sign in Cleveland reads: “Ise Kream 
Sallune,” which is positively the worst cold 
spell of the season. 
