Rensselaer Union, Volume 3, Number 42, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 July 1871 — Destruction of Weeds. [ARTICLE]

Destruction of Weeds.

A cultivated crop of auy kind cannot be successfully grown on land unless it is perfectly free from weeds, for the latter absorb the ingredients from the soil and atmosphere, which are required to bring the former to perfection. When several cereal crops are grown on land without the intervention of a green crop, the weeds that are peculiar to the cereals spring up, ripen their seedß, and take pose salon of the soil by disseminating them. The seed* of some weeds are provided- with wt££s, and are carried by the wind for mawy miles. The Cannada thistle and dandelion are scattered far and wide in this way. The seeds of others are covered with burrs which adhere to the hair or wool of animals, and are distributed in this way. In preparing for spring crops, the importance of banishing weeds should be borne in mind.- after being deeply plowed the soil should be well pulverized with the harrow and roller. The harrow will bring up roots and weeds to the sui faco where they will be killed by exposure to the sun. The compression of tlte soil by the ro|lex will cause the seeds of weeds to vegetate, and when the plants appear above ground they may be easily destroyed by stirring the ground with the harrow. Canada thistles may "pc easily pulled ont of grain crops by usitig weeding tongs while tbs ground is moist after showers. Burdock should be extirpated from pastures, yellow dock from grass land as well as" from tillage crops.— Exchange. The day before Gen. Harrison's inauguration, Mr. Van Buren called upon him, and asked“ Is there anything I can do to oblige you?" “Yes,"said Gen. Harrison, “My son-in-law, Gen. Pike, died on the batt.e-fleld, and left an only son, whoseinclinations are, as his father’s, for the army. I cannot appoint him." “Is that all ?” said Van; and in two hours the commission was signed and sent to the young man.