192 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
August  22,  1895. 
WEEDg. 
“Smother  the  weeds!”  was  the  cry  of  a  certain  worthy 
farmer  to  his  bailiff  last  spring  in  answer  to  an  objection  to 
sowing  6  bushels  of  Oats  pc’*  acre — 4  bushels  was  the  quantity 
in  common  use  in  that  locality.  Surely  an  extra  2  bushels  must 
be  a  mistake  ?  It  might  have  been  for  clean  strong  land  in 
February;  but  this  happened  two  months  later,  The  land  was 
somewhat  foul,  the  season  advanced,  the  corn  would  not  tiller; 
therefore,  to  sow  thickly  with  a  full  dressing  of  chemical  manure 
would  give  a  full  strong  plant,  growing  so  quickly  as  to  render 
anything  like  a  free  or  strong  weed  growth  impossible.  So 
much  for  spring  plans ;  but  now  that  we  have  an  early  harvest 
and  cleared  stubbles  we  certainly  had  the  eradication  of  weeds 
well  in  mind  while  writing  the  articles  on  “  Autumn  Tillage.” 
How  best  to  do  this  is  worthy  of  careful  consideration  Let 
us  see  how  it  can  be  done  this  autumn. 
With  the  soil  so  moist  and  warm  as  it  is  now  seed  germina¬ 
tion  is  certain  to  be  speedy ;  therefore,  on  all  light  land  and 
mixed  soil  stubb'es,  a  turn  of  the  harrows  should  suffice  to 
stir  the  surface  sufficiently  to  induce  germination  in  all  seed 
that  has  fallen  on  the  surface.  Then  deeper  cultivation  may 
follow  at  once,  no  weed  seeds  will  be  buried,  and  perennial  weeds 
may  be  uprooted,  brought  to  the  surface,  collected,  and 
destroyed  by  fire.  Time  is  so  precious  now  that  there  must  be 
no  waiting  for  the  sun  to  kill  weeds  however  bright  and  settled 
the  weather  may  become. 
Fine  light  harrows  do  much  to  collect  such  weeds,  but  there 
must  be  hand-picking  of  every  piece  of  root  and  rhizome  as 
well  if  we  would  have  the  land  clean.  The  number  of  turns 
of  any  of  the  implements— horse  hoe,  cultivator,  ploughs 
harrows  —  just  depends  on  the  degree  of  foulness;  so  long 
as  portions  of  the  roots  of  couch  grass,  thi  tle,  dock,  or  other 
weeds  are  brought  to  the  surface  it  must  be  worth  while 
keeping  on.  A  little  extra  expenditure  now  on  this  work 
points  to  a  considerable  saving  of  labour  next  spring,  as  well 
as  a  saving  of  soil  fertility  next  summer. 
The  question  very  naturally  arises.  Will  it  “  pay  ”  to  do 
this  work  so  thoroughly  ?  We  do  not  hesitate  to  answer, 
Yes,  it  will  pay  if  due  attention  be  given  to  economy  of  time 
and  labour,  and  this  can  only  be  possible  when  the  master’s 
eye  and  hand  are  there  to  control  and  lead  the  work.  Pay¬ 
ment  by  the  acre  for  all  hand  labour  is  to  the  mutual 
advantage  of  master  and  man  We  have  seen  so  much  foul 
land  again  this  summer,  have  heard  so  much  about  the  unfair 
share  of  profit  which  the  labourer  takes  from  the  land,  that 
the  question  of  how  and  what  to  farm  presses  more  and  more 
on  the  mind.  Of  one  thing  we  are  assured — that  many  a 
farmer  would  be  the  better  for  less  land  and  better  work  on 
the  land. 
We  have  seen  whole  fields  one  thick  bed  of  thistles,  a  colony 
of  docks  extending  over  nearly  a  rood  of  land  in  the  midst  of  a 
corn  field,  corn  thickly  infested  by  coltsfoot,  beds  of  thistle, 
dock,  nettles,  and  anonis  out  on  permanent  pasture,  charlock 
rampant  everywhere  on  arable  land,  fallow  land  one  huge  bed  of 
couch  gi'ass  If  times  are  hard  and  prices  low  how  can  we 
afford  to  suffer  the  land  to  be  robbed  of  its  fertility  by  such 
pests?  Weeds  thrive  on  precisely  similar  plant  food  as  do 
our  farm  crops.  The  moral  is  too  self-evident  to  require  explana¬ 
tion.  But  we  may  enumerate  clean  land,  both  pasture  and 
arable,  full  and  sustained  fertility,  timely  culture,  and 
for  arable  land  only  crops  on  which  a  profit  is  still  possible. 
Such  crops  would  then  derive  full  benefit  from  the  clean,  rich 
soil;  they  would  be  of  the  best  even  when  required  for  home 
consumption,  as  more  and  more  of  them  must  be. 
He  is  undoubtedly  the  best  farmer  who  throughout  the 
depression  has  sent  most  of  his  corn  walking  to  market  in  the 
guise  of  live  stock  fattened  at  the  farm  has  not  suffered  his 
land  to  become  foul  and  poor,  but  has  kept  do«n  weeds,  has  kept 
up  condition,  has  made  a  study  of  each  field  and  its  require¬ 
ments,  and  proved  to  his  own  profit  and  for  the  benefit  of 
agriculture  that  successful  farming  is  still  possible. 
To  those  who  have  not  been  s-o  thorough-going,  and  who, 
like  our  correspondent  who  asked  how  to  destroy  thistles  last 
week,  intend  trying  to  do  better,  we  say  now  is  the  time  for 
a  new  departure  for  fresh  efforts.  Get  the  land  clean,  and  in 
doing  so  make  a  free  use  of  fires  to  burn  up  all  weeds,  so  as- to 
destroy  weeds  and  seed.  It  is  certain  that  rubbish  heaps, 
accumulations  of  weeds  and  decaying  vegetable  matter,  are  a 
haunt  for  the  dormant  life  of  many  of  our  insect  pests  ;  get  rid  of 
them,  break  up  and  well  st  r  all  soil  bare  of  crops,  and  your 
farm  will  be  clean  both  in  the  absence  of  insect  pests  as  well 
as  of  weeds. 
WOEK  ON  THE  HOME  FARM. 
Never  have  we  seen  more  irregularity  in  farm  work  than  at  present, 
haymaking,  corn  harvest,  root-singling  and  hoeing,  and  the  sowing  of 
autumn  crops  all  being  done  now.  It  is  certainly  not  a  question  of 
latitude,  for  we  saw  much  of  the  haymaking  approaching  completion  in 
the  South  of  Scotland  early  in  July,  yet  six  weeks  later  much  of  the 
hay  crop  in  the  High  Peak  district  of  Derbyshire  had  still  to  be  carted 
to  the  ricks.  In  this  matter  it  is  more  a  question  of  fertility  of  soil  than 
of  climate,  the  hay  crop  on  rich  land  always  being  ready  for  mowing 
much  earlier  than  that  on  poor  land. 
Earlier  and  more  abundant  is  the  hay,  so  loo  is  the  aftermath.  On 
some  poor  meadow  land  the  bay  is  got  so  late  that  what  aftergrowth  comes 
is  of  very  little  use.  We  have  a  splendid  growth  of  herbage  on  all  our 
meadows  which  were  mown  this  season  ;  evidently  the  rain  has  dissolved 
and  washed  in  much  of  the  chemical  manure  dressing  that  was  used 
for  the  hay,  but  which,  owing  to  the  drought,  had  not  been  available 
for  it. 
Root  crops  of  all  kinds  are  making  rapid  progress  now.  We  saw  a 
few  days  ago  a  magnificent  crop  of  Mangolds  from  seeds  dibbled  in  by 
women.  Where  such  labour  is  plentiful  and  the  land  in  good  heart 
there  is  much  in  favour  of  this  method  ;  ridging  is  avoided,  plant¬ 
singling  is  comparatively  such  a  trifling  matter  that  it  must  be  got 
through  in  less  tnan  half  the  usual  time,  as  it  resolves  itself  into  the 
removal  of  the  superfluous  plants  around  each  station,  and  the  hand- 
hoeing  must  certainly  be  lighter,  as  there  is  no  chopping  out  of  plants 
for  the  singling.  Enough  of  the  plant  had  run  to  seed  to  show  that  the 
seed  was  dibbled  in  early,  but  the  crop  could’  not  have  been  seriously 
checked  by  the  drought,  as  the  roots  were  so  large. 
We  commend  this  plan  to  all  small  home  farmers  and  others,  only 
pray  remember  that  for  it  to  be  successful  the  soil  must  be  rich  ia 
fertility,  the  seed  good,  and  the  sowing  early,  say  by  the  middle  of  April. 
This  Mangold  fleld  is  on  a  Kent  farm  in  the  parish  of  Swanley.  Not  a 
weed  was  to  be  seen  in  it,  and  it  was  quite  in  keeping  to  hear  that  it 
was  in  the  hands  of  a  bailiff  who  is  so  energetic  as  to  be  a  man  of  mark 
in  a  district  wffiere  every  man  is  brisk,  and  most  of  the  managers  cater 
for  the  London  market. 
METEOROLOGICAL  OBSERVATIONS. 
Oamden  Squarb,  London.* 
Lat.51°  32' 40"  N. ;  Long.  0°  8'  0"  W.;  Altitude  111  feet. 
Date. 
9  A.M, 
In  the  Day. 
s. 
1896. 
August. 
1  Barometer 
1  at  32°,  and 
1  Sea  Level. 
Hygrometer. 
Direc¬ 
tion  of 
Wind. 
Temp, 
of  soil 
at 
1  foot. 
Shade  Tem¬ 
perature. 
Radiation 
Temperature 
Dry. 
Wet. 
Max. 
Min. 
In 
Sun. 
On 
Grass. 
Inchs, 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
Inohs. 
Sunday  .. 
11 
29  580 
60  9 
57-8 
S. 
61-5 
70-0 
57-3 
114-7 
63-8 
— 
Monday  . . 
12 
29-815 
61-4 
56-1 
w. 
60  7 
70-4 
52-8 
117-4 
49-0 
0-260 
Tuesday  . . 
■3 
29  751 
59-3 
57-9 
N.E. 
60-1 
6  4-3 
53-1 
100-8 
49  6 
0-300 
Wednesday 
14 
29-955 
62-9 
68-1 
N.W. 
69-2 
71-2 
51-5 
118-3 
47-3 
0-023 
Thursday . . 
)5 
30-224 
6-2-1 
57-9 
N.W. 
59-7 
74-4 
501 
116-1 
45-2 
— 
Friday 
10 
30  238 
65-2 
00-8 
N. 
60  2 
71-4 
57-2 
83-9 
52  9 
Saturday  . . 
17 
30-240 
64  3 
600 
N. 
60-9 
76-4 
561 
111-3 
60  8 
— 
29-971 
62-3 
58  4 
60-3 
71-2 
54-0 
108-9 
4J-8 
0-683 
REMARKS. 
11th, — High  wind,  much  cloud,  and  a  slight  shower  in  morning ;  generally  sunny- 
after  noon. 
12th.— High  wind,  cloud,  sunshine,  and  showers;  and  a  storm  rain  just  after  10  A.M. 
13th. — Rain  from  6  A.M.  to  9  a.m.  ;  dull  and  drizzly  till  11  A.M. ;  then  heavy  rain  to 
2  P.M. :  generally  sunny  after,  but  a  heavy  shower  at  6.30  P.ll. 
14th. — Generally  sunny  day  ;  a  little  rain  at  8  P.M. 
15th.— Fine,  with  frequent  sunshine. 
16th.— Hazy,  dull  and  close  all  day. 
17th.— Hazy  early  ;  briglit  sunshine  and  pleasant  breeze  after  10  a.m. 
A  week  in  all  respects  very  near  the  average. — G.  J.  Symons. 
