436 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
May  19,  1898. 
we,  like  the  patriarch  ot  old,  say,  “  Shall  we  not  receive  good  at  the 
hand  of  God,  and  shall  we  not  receive  evil  ?  ” 
But  there  are  other  difficulties  with  which  we  have  to  contend, 
neither  unexpected  nor  unusual ;  and  though  they  are  of  yearly 
occurrence,  from  the  letters  we  read  in  the  papers,  and  from  the 
excellent  advice  given,  we  might  imagine  they  were  quite  new 
obstacles,  of  the  treatment  of  which  the  writers  knew  nothing  what¬ 
ever.  We  refer  to  the  earth’s  most  fruitful  crop — weeds,  in  their 
multifarious  forms.  “  Thorns  also  and  thistles  shall  it  bring  forth,” 
was  the  verdict  in  the  world’s  early  days,  and  that  sentence  has 
never  been  revoked.  Whatever  other  seeds  fail  to  germinate,  there 
is  no  fear  of  the  failure  of  the  weed  crop. 
We  should  like  to  know  a  few  particulars  of  a  good  farmer's 
labour  bill  for  weeding  alone ;  it  would  startle  some  of  us  considerably 
We  fancy  the  last  few  years  have  seen  much  less  done  in  the  way  of 
hoeing  Wheat ;  of  course  the  crop  has  been  by  no  means  a  paying 
one,  and  the  farmer  has  been  of  necessity  obliged  to  curtail  his  labour 
as  much  as  possible.  We  own  to  liking  to  see  clean  Wheat  stubble 
after  harvest — it  looks  more  workmanlike. 
If  Wheat  has  been  neglected,  the  root  crops  will  not  allow 
themselves  to  be  put  on  one  .side.  The  tender  little  plants,  often 
struggling  against  adverse  climatic  influences,  must  at  all  cost  be 
saved  from  death  by  smothering;  and  in  the  freshly  tilled  ground, 
rich  with  manure,  the  weeds  grow  faster  than  the  legitimate  plants. 
There  is  one  crop  that  acts  as  a  grand  weed-killer.  Nothing  can 
flourish  where  strong  Potato  tops  abound,  and  the  process  of  lifting 
makes  the  work  complete. 
We  have  always  held  an  idea  that  constant  and  incessant  cultiva¬ 
tion  were  the  only  methods  of  keeping  weeds  at  bay.  The  seeds  come 
from  no  one  knows  where,  and  some  have  a  marvellous  power  of 
lying  dormant  for  years,  and  germinating  when  brought  to  the  surface 
by  extra  deep  cultivation.  There  is  one  weed  in  particular  which 
is  much  in  evidence  just  at  this  season  of  the  year— -we  refer  to 
“charlock,”  “ketlock,”  or  “  brassacs,”  these  different  names  being  local. 
The  seed  is  oily  in  its  nature,  and  therefore,  as  we  said  before,  will  exist 
unsuspected  for  years.  One  thing  alone  is  fatal  to  the  ymung  plant, 
and  that  is  frost.  In  Barley  flelds  we  may  see  it  by  millions,  and 
the  spring  frosts  are  not  sufficient  to  destroy  it ;  the  only  course 
appears  to  be  the  harrow,  but  there  again  we  are  fast,  for  if  the  Clover 
seeds  happen  to  have  been  sown— no  harrow  must  go  near.  Of 
course  there  is  the  old  [irocess  of  hand-pulling — very  laborious,  very 
dear,  but  most  effective  ;  in  fact,  we  feel  that  after  all  old  fashioned 
farmers  knew  a  thing  or  two,  and  employe<l  means  that,  though 
costly  at  the  outset,  proved  the  cheapest  in  the  long  run. 
There  is  nothing  but  the  hoe  for  Turnips  and  Sw^edes,  for  the 
rich  superphosphates  encourage  and  foster  the  ketlock  as  much  a^ 
the  little  Turnip  plant.  Boot  growing  has  alw^ays  been,  and  must 
ever  continue,  a  costly  process ;  but  we  can  find  no  substitute  for 
them. 
We  are  always  ready  to  greet  with  pleasure  any  labour-saving 
appliance  ;  but  we,  being  of  a  cautious  temperament,  prefer  that  our 
neighbour  should  take  the  risk  of  first  experiment.  We  have  read 
with  interest  an  account  of  a  new  weed  destroyer  tint  will,  if  it 
comes  up  to  the  expectation  of  the  discoverer,  revolutionise  the 
science  of  weed  destroying.  As  is  the  case  usually,  the  discovery 
was  accidental.  The  owner  of  a  French  vineyard,  in  spr.iying  his 
Vines,  noticed  that  the  mixture  used  completely  destroyed  plants  of 
charlock. 
Following  up  this  success,  an  experiment  was  made  on  a  field 
of  charlock  and  Oats,  with  the  result  that  the  weed  succumbed, 
while  the  Oat  crop  remained  uninjured.  Last  June  the  experiment 
was  again  tried  on  a  piece  of  Oats,  a  good  crop  so  far  as  charlock 
and  wild  radish  would  allow.  The  spraying  mixture  used  was  a 
solution  containing  5  per  cent,  of  sulphate  of  copper.  The  weeds 
turned  from  yellow  to  black,  and  the  Oats,  which  on  first  appearance 
looked  sickly,  quickly  recovered  tone.  Among  the  Oats  were  plants 
of  Red  Clover,  which  assumed  much  finer  proportions  than  that 
(yioyer  which  hftd  h§ei)  outside  t;he  tfeated  portion  of  fhe  field, 
Had  the  sulphate  of  copper  wrought  the  improvement,  or  was  it 
simply  because,  the  noxious  weed  being  gone,  the  valuable  plant  had 
more  room  for  food  and  development  ? 
In  another  case  a  Barley  crop  was  chosen  for  the  experiment, 
and  as  sulphate  of  copper  is  a  costly  material,  sulphate  of  iron  was 
used  instead,  a  solution  containing  30  per  cent,  of  iron.  The 
mixture  was  sprayed  in  the  evening  of  August  20th ;  a  heavy  rain 
fell  some  hours  later,  and  in  the  morning  the  chailock  plants  were 
found  to  be  dead  or  dying.  The  Barley  received  a  check  which 
arrested  its  growth  for  a  few  days. 
In  another  set  of  experiments  it  was  satisfactorily  proved  that 
10  per  cent,  of  sulphate  was  sufficiently  strong  to  kill  all  weeds. 
If,  as  stated,  the  cost  ])er  acre  is  about  3s.  2d.,  this  new  discovery 
is  a  very  valuable  one.  There  would  be,  too,  the  initial  cost  of  the 
spraying  machine ;  but  this,  we  should  think,  need  not  be  a  serious 
consideration.  Such  a  machine  could  be  hired  out  throughout  the 
length  and  breadth  of  a  parish. 
It  would  be  much  more  portable  than  a  threshing  machine,  and 
it  would  pay  for  itself  many  times  over. 
WORK  ON  THE  HOME  FARM. 
At  last  we  have  three  line  days  in  succession  and  are  able  to  set  drags 
and  harrows  to  work  once  more  with  a  fair  prospect  of  benefiting  by  the 
work  done.  Wo  are  dragging  tallows  through,  and  harrowing  after  a 
day’s  interval  has  allowed  the  surface  to  dry  ;  another  harrowing  will 
follow,  then  the  roll  and  harrow  again,  when  the  little  bits  of  twitch  still 
left  should  be  on  the  surface  clear  of  soil,  and  in  a  fair  way  to  die  if  the 
weather  will  keep  dry  enough  to  allow  them  to  do  so. 
Ridge  harrows  are  kept  constantly  at  work  amongst  the  Potatoes, 
some  of  which  will  soon  be  putting  in  an  appearance  above  ground.  As 
there  is  still  a  little  danger  of  frost  we  are  ridging  these  up  afresh  to  keep 
them  out  of  harm’s  way  a  little  longer.  Apart  from  that  consideration 
the  ridging  and  subsequent  horse-hoeing  down  again  must  save  manual 
labour. 
We  begin  to  see  many  thistles  ami  ngst  the  corn,  and  “  All  hands  to  the 
hoe  ”  will  be  the  cry.  Wheat  at  present,  or  rather  at  prospective  autumn 
prices,  should  be  worth  a  little  more  labour  than  it  has  been  given  of  late 
years,  and  as  far  as  possible  we  shall  give  ours  a  thorough  hoeing.  This 
will  occupy  the  men  this  month  out.  The  spring  com  must  be  weeded, 
and  this  work  can  be  very  well  performed  by  women  if  they  can  be  had 
and  the  weather  be  decently  fine.  Women  are  very  quick  at  detecting 
weeds,  but  do  not  like  working  amongst  wet  corn,  particularly  amongst 
Wheat,  which,  being  so  much  higher  and  stronger  than  Barley,  often  is 
hardly  ever  dry,  even  in  fine  weather,  if  the  dews  are  heavy  ;  so  to  make 
the  best  of  female  labour  keep  it  amongst  the  Barley.  We  can  get  strong 
girls  at  Is.  .3d.  per  day,  and  two  will  do  more  than  one  man. 
The  hoe,  like  every  other  tool,  should  be  kept  in  good  order  and  fairly 
sharp  at  the  edge  ;  it  should  be  capable  of  doing  its  work  without  rough 
usage,  and  should  never  be  handled  as  if  the  workman  were  chopping 
wood.  If  the  hoe  be  lifted  high  from  the  ground  it  often  misses  its 
intended  mark  and  cuts  up  corn  instead  of  weeds,  whilst  the  latter  requires 
another  stroke,  and  time  and  strength  are  both  wasted. 
METEOROLOGICAL  OBSERVATIONS. 
Camden  Square  London. 
Lat.  51°  32'  40"  N.;  Long.  0°  8'  0"  W.;  Altitude  111  feet. 
Date. 
9  A.M. 
In  the  Day. 
1898. 
Barometer 
at  32°,  and 
1  Sea  Level 
Hygrometer 
Direc¬ 
tion  of 
Wind. 
_ 
Temp 
of  soil 
at 
Shade  Tem¬ 
perature. 
Radiation 
Tempera¬ 
ture. 
.5 
May. 
Dry. 
Wet. 
1  foot 
Max. 
Min. 
In 
Sun 
On 
Grass 
Sunday  . . . . 
8 
inchs 
30T95 
deg. 
49-4 
deg. 
47  -3 
W. 
deg. 
51-4 
deg. 
.66-9 
deg. 
48-7 
deg. 
86-3 
deg. 
46-9 
inchs 
0-016 
Monday  . . . . 
9 
30-071 
56-4 
50-7 
N.W. 
50-9 
62-7 
48-6 
96-3 
41  "2 
0-028 
Tuesday  . . . . 
10 
■29-910 
55-8 
53-4 
W. 
51-6 
61-2 
49-7 
80-3 
46-1 
0-169 
W  ednesday 
11 
29-272 
51-9 
45-8 
W. 
61-9 
.68-1 
47-8 
110-6 
48-7 
0-010 
Thursday  '.. 
Friday . 
12 
-29-262 
48-2 
45-3 
N. 
51-8 
55-9 
44-9 
100-1 
40-0 
0-0-29 
13 
29-710 
49-7 
42-3 
W. 
49-9 
57-7 
34-6 
109-1 
30-8 
0-113 
Saturday. . . 
14 
■29 -071 
51-4 
47-4 
W. 
50-3 
61-7 
45-2 
110-6 
42-4 
0.069 
29-726 
51-8 
47-5 
51-1 
59-2 
46-6 
99-0 
42-3 
0-434 
REMARKS. 
8th. — Overcast,  with  drizzle  and  slight  showers  early,  and  in  .afternoon. 
Oth. — Overcast,  with  occasional  gleams  of  sun  in  morning  ;  bright  sun  from  3  p.m. 
10th, —Rainy  early  and  at  night ;  overcast  throughout,  with  spots  of  rain  at  times, 
11th.— Gale  and  heavy  rain  in  small  hours  ;  windy  and  brilliant  day,  hut  spots  of 
rain  at  noon,  and  a  shower  at  7  p.m. 
12th.— Generally  overcast  with  spots  of  rain  in  morning,  and  a  heavy* shower  at 
5  P.  M. ,  but  occasional  sunshine. 
13th.— Brilliant  till  9  A.M.,  frequently  cloudy  after;  spots  of  rain  at  4.30  P.M.  ; 
heavy  show-er  at  7  p.  M. 
14th. — Heavy  showers  early  ;  alternate  cloud  and  sunshine  during  day. 
Rain  every  day,  hut  the  aggregate  deptfi  pot  htalf  an  jiich.— Gf,  J.  SYWONS, 
