238 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[August, 
“ Slack never thy weeding, for dearth nor for cheap, 
The corn shall reward it, ere ever ye reap; 
And especially where ye do trust for to seed, 
Let that be well used, the better to speed.” 
Old Tusser uttered many pithy sayings in his 
rude rhymes, doctrines as sound to-day as when 
they were uttered. We have now reached a 
season when many are accustomed to slacken 
their weeding, and thus lose much that has been 
gained by the clean tillage of the first part of 
the season. The corn is laid by, and the pota¬ 
toes, and weeds grow apace even in the shade 
of the crops. They go to seed, and completely 
stock the ground, making work for future 
years. It is a busy season of the year, and it is 
thought that labor will pay better somewhere 
else, than in subduing these pests of the farm. 
We have seen corn fields well manured, and 
otherwise well managed, so matted with grass 
and weeds, that there would be a loss of thirty 
per cent, on the yield. We have seen oat-stub¬ 
ble, and other fields stocked to grass, so over¬ 
grown with weeds that the young grass was 
choked, and made so feeble that it could not 
withstand the Winter frosts. We have seen 
pastures overgrown with Canada thistles, briars, 
and shrubs, so that they would not yield half a 
crop of grass, and this of inferior quality. 
What is to be done with our August weeds? 
It is of course too late to cultivate potato fields, 
as that would lead to the setting of small tu¬ 
bers. Some varieties are already dug, and others 
soon will be. All sorts, if planted early, would 
mature by the last of this month, and then the 
weeds might be turned under by the plow be¬ 
fore they have time to seed. One of the advan¬ 
tages of a second crop is, that it makes clean 
work with the weeds. Turnips, beets, carrots, 
and all the late crops require cultivation, until 
it is too late for weeds to seed. Even if the 
ground lies idle, it will pay to turn in the weeds. 
Suppose it costs $2 an acre, that is cheaper than 
to do $4 worth of extra weeding next season. 
Corn is frequently cultivated this month, for 
the third or fourth time, and when the rows are 
wide enough, and the corn is not too forward, 
the horse should be kept moving between the 
rows. If this is not practicable, we can still 
pass between the rows with the liand-hoe, and 
cut up the few weeds that have started since 
the last cultivation. It is cheering to see a piece 
of corn having the whole strength of the soil, 
not a weed standing among it. This, if the crop 
is otherwise well treated, fills out the cob to the 
end, and handsomely caps it. Cultivation is, to 
a certain extent, a substitute for manure, and 
with a plenty of this article, secures maximum 
crops. Pew weeds will be found where corn 
grows at the rate of ninety bushels to the acre. 
There is no better month than this to kill 
Canada thistles, brush, and briars, that infest 
pastures. Cut, pile, and burn, without regard 
to the phase of the moon. Whatever quarter 
that orb may be in, give no quarter to these 
pests. There is no economy in cutting down 
expenses by refusing to cut weeds and brush. 
Bush scythes would be cheap if they cost their 
weight in gold. Joe Stubbs has twenty acres of 
pasture capable of feeding as many head of 
cattle. One half the area is covered with briars, 
alders, elders, liard-liack, and Canada thistles. 
He can onlypasture six cows and a horse there, 
and they are not very well fed. Joe is afraid 
of the bush scythe in dog-days. It is lonesome 
work. He is losing at least a hundred dollars a 
year for the want of it. It would not be lone¬ 
some to see twenty head of cattle in there, with 
no brush to hide them. Elbow grease is very 
efiicacious in subduing weeds, and its use is 
good economy. Jonathan. 
Choosing a Building Site. 
With some persons, the range of choice is very 
limited. If they are men of business, they must 
live quite near the shop, store, or office; if they 
are farmers, they must build the house near the 
center of their land, or where most convenient 
to carry on the farm work. But with others, the 
case is different; and it is to them chiefly that 
we now make the following suggestions: 
I. One thing to be considered in choosing a 
site, is its accessibility. Persons of a poetical or 
romantic turn of mind might choose to live 
perched on a high and wooded hill, remote from 
the common thoroughfares of men. But sober¬ 
er people would inquire, how are we to get to 
the house in dark nights, in muddy weather, and 
in winter ? How are we to draw the hay and 
the wood, and other useful truck ? Will it be 
convenient for our neighbors and friends to visit 
us, and for us to get to them ? Strong as may 
be our attachments, if it is difficult for us to 
reach our friends, or for them to get to us, it will 
place a formidable barrier between us; our vis¬ 
its will be infrequent, and our attachments will 
gradually abate. The post-office, the church, 
railway station, stage office, and the store 
are institutions which men can not well get 
along without, now-a-days. Let us have an eye 
to these things, before laying the corner-stones 
of our permanent dwellings. Crossing many 
bridges, struggling through muddy roads, or 
toiling up and down hills, all interfere with ac¬ 
cessibility, and should be avoided, if possible. 
II. The surroundings of a site should be con¬ 
sidered. Who, unless he be the smithy himself, 
owner and proprietor, would want to build a 
house with the smoke and dirt of a forge just 
under his windows? Cattle-sheds, pig-stys, a 
slovenly neighbor’s out-houses, any kind of 
building used for manufacturing purposes, a 
slaughter-house, a quagmire,—in short, any 
thing and every thing in the line of nuisances 
ought to be avoided. One may think, perhaps, 
that custom will reconcile him to almost any 
thing; but not so, if he or his family are per¬ 
sons of sensibility. Whoever builds in the 
neighborhood of a nuisance will find it a source 
of continual mortification and regret, and will 
be quite sure, ere long, to sell out his property 
at considerable sacrifice. 
In some places, a number of persons club to¬ 
gether and buy a tract of land for building-sites, 
entering into a written contract that neither they 
nor their heirs or assigns shall use the land for 
other purposes than for residences and gardens. 
At Llewellyn Park, in Orange, New-Jersey, a 
similar plan has been adopted. A large tract of 
land is owned by a corporation, who offer build¬ 
ing sites for sale on condition that the houses 
put up shall be of a respectable character, and 
shall have nothing in their appurtenances to of¬ 
fend good taste. 
A small annual tax is assessed upon the lot- 
owners to meet the expense of keeping the 
roads, fences, etc., of the Park in repair. In 
such an arrangement, it would seem that one 
might enjoy the elegancies of a refined rural 
home in the midst of a handsome lauded estate, 
without the expense and trouble of taking care 
of more than the small spot immediately around 
his own door, and perhaps the garden in the rear. 
III. The heaithfulness of a site is an important 
matter. One would hardly wish to build on the 
edge of a marsh, or of any standing water, un¬ 
less he is proof against malaria. Then, there 
are some situations where the wind sweeps vio¬ 
lently through gorges, or up and down long val¬ 
leys, which are alike unhealthy and disagreea¬ 
ble. Low grounds generally are subject to 
dampness in Summer, and to extreme cold in 
Winter. But in avoiding low grounds, let us 
not go to the other extreme of pitching our tent 
on a high and bleak hill. A site moderately 
raised above low flats, yet not on the liill-top, is 
ordinarily the most salubrious, as it is the most 
pleasant. Such sites afford pure air, pure water, 
good drainage, and cheerful prospects, all of 
which are conducive to health and happiness. 
IV. The nature of the soil should be looked to. 
Whoever builds in the country, builds there 
principally for the sake of having a little farm 
or garden and orchard, and ornamental trees. 
But these will not succeed well on a rocky bluff, 
a sandy plain, or a bed of clay. Is the soil good 
for farming purposes? Will it grow corn and 
potatoes well? If so, then an important ques¬ 
tion is settled. For, if it will raise these, it will 
raise magnolias, pears, grapes, wheat, and what¬ 
ever else one has a mind to cultivate. If the 
soil is poor to start with, time and money, and a 
great deal of patience, will improve it; but the 
process will be very laborious. 
V. Any improvements already made upon a 
site should have considerable weight in deter¬ 
mining one’s choice. An orchard, not too old 
and scraggy, a few good shade trees of large 
size, any amount of grading, draining, manur¬ 
ing, fencing, etc., that may have been done, is 
' only so much time saved, and so much money 
invested for the buyer’s benefit. Pleasant as it is 
to create one’s homestead wholly, yet life is 
short, and it is quite a help to have a few things 
already created to one’s hand. 
We might add other hints, but these are all 
that our crowded columns will now admit. To 
all contemplating building dwelling houses, Ave 
say, think twice before you build once. 
Spontaneous Vegetation. 
To the Editor of the American Agriculturist. 
“Now, did this vegetation spring from an 
original principle in the soil, or from seeds, per¬ 
haps a thousand years old, buried in that hill ? 
How came they there ? Did the fire beget them ?” 
The foregoing “nuts” of Scholasticus, in 
the June No. of the American Agriculturist, may 
not, after all, prove to be as hard-shelled as some 
imagine. I am rather of the opinion that a lit¬ 
tle impression may be made upon some of them, 
by striking them in the right way. It is Avell 
knoAvn that the seeds of many plants will re¬ 
tain their vitality for an indefinite length of 
time, in favorable situations. I saAV an account 
not long since, of seeds being found with an 
Egyptian mummy, that had remained for thou¬ 
sands of years entombed Avith the body, which 
readily germinated, on being planted in suitable 
soil. After the burning of the timber of an old 
“ girdling,” in my immediate vicinity, “ multi¬ 
tudes of a cruciferous plant,” (the Brassica rapa) 
were found growing, in some of the beds of the 
burned loglieaps, which excited the wonder and 
astonishment of the whole neighborhood. It 
Avas at length ascertained that the part Avliere 
the rapa was growing in such quantity, had, 
about tAventy years previous, been a “ turnip- 
patch.” The seeds of numerous plants, as every 
body knows, require a very great amount of heat 
to make them sprout. Some, for this purpose, 
