Rensselaer Union, Volume 1, Number 52, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 September 1869 — FARM AND HOUSEHOLD. [ARTICLE]

FARM AND HOUSEHOLD.

Weeds. What toil and trouble they occasion ! But by the thrifty former all this toil and Woubie will be wffMngly taken if he can exterminate these troublesome and intrusive pests tl»t no pertinaciously tlxrust themselves in field, garden, and meadow., where Uiey arc neither Baked por wanted, for nny useful or ornamental purpose. Anti would it nokgratify the curiosity of soln* to learn that the moat obnoxious of these are foreign to our soil, and were not known to the aborigines, being introduced by Europeans ? The most objectionable, the Canada thistle, is of European origin. The ox-eyed daisy is from the same source, and is often in Pequsylvinla called the park-weed and was first sown by Gov. Keith, more than a hundred yedrs ago in his park. • From over the ooeau also came the dock, the mullcn, the common thistle, chess, buttercup, wild parsnip and carrot, garlic, St. John’s wort, dandelion, plantain, buid'ick, and teazel. Not many American plants have we given in exchange for these to the Old World, and whether our Indian corn .and tlie jfOtato have neutralized the evil caused by the introduction of toliacco by Sir Walter Raleigh, may be questioned. I cannot now think of a single native noxious weed tiiat is troublesome to the farmer : they are all exotic to our soil. Our common medicinal herbs also came from over the waters with our fathers: tanzy, comfrey, mint, sage, thyme, balm, elecampane, horehound, and catnip were, no doubt, brought as household treasures. Seldom in China is a weed to be seen ; there every foot of soil being carefully economized and filled to overflowing with a hungry population, all kinds of noxious weeds arc carefully and timely exterminated. And if John Chinaman* will bring his economic virtues in this respect to our land, lie will not be an unwelcome guest, for weeds are here spreading slowly but surely. Go where we will—north, south, east, or west—the thistle, the ox-eye, the dock, aud that vile native of Asia, the jimson-wced, are gaining ground. It seems sometimes impossible for the farmer in the busy season to find the time to destroy all kinds of weeds before tlie seeds mature; the proper way of disposing of them then is to put in heaps, and when dry to burn them, instead, as the practice of some is, of throwing them into the roads for the next rain to wash back again on the neighboring fields, thus spreading instead of destroying the frail thing.— Hearth and Home.