Rensselaer Union, Volume 6, Number 37, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 June 1874 — Clean Up the Walks. [ARTICLE]

Clean Up the Walks.

In my first experience at hoeing corn and potatoes I was very much inclined, like most boys, to give the last hill ip the row “ a lick and a promise,” instead of finishing it up In a workmanlike manner with one or two clean cuts of the hoe in:o' . the sod or weeds beyond. Well do I remember ..the look my father gave me at this attempt at slighting my work, as well as his words, which were, “ Boys, always hoe out your row.” I have never forgotten the lesson learned so long ago, and it frequently comes to my mind as I see the grass and weeds crowding the hills around the edges of corn or potato field in. summer. These are pretty sure signs that somebody has failed to hoe out his row. The neglected fence corners, halfplowed headlands, deep, barren, dead furrows to be seen upon thousands of farms, in whatever direction we may travel, show plainly enough that the owners or occupants were never taught and compelled to “ hoe out their row.” But the negligent habit acquired when young of never hoeing out the row crops, out nowhere more conspicuously with the

man than in the treatment of the ground -about his home. First of all, if he received proper instruction in his younger days, there will be a grass plat about the house, and through this, or along side, walks and a carriage way, in neither of which will grass or weeds be permitted tc grow. I know that some farmers will say that this is all nonsense, and so is blacking your boots and putting on a stiff collar when you go to church on Sunday. No one ever put on such a thing as Sunday clothes in hot weather for comfort, but it is all for the looks, and that is just what folks clean up their walks' and trim the edges of the grass for. A little polish on a pair of boots makes a wonderful difference in the appearance of the man who wears them, just as a little hoeing and trimming of the carriage-way and walks about a house reflect beneficially upon all surrounding objects. In addition to the looks, a welldefined walk or carriage road has a wonderful effect upon the morals and habits of both mankind and animal kind that frequent them. We all know what is said about the two kinds of pathß and where they lead in that good old Book, and the broad one with no well-defined limits is typical of nine-tenths of those seen about farmers’ grounds, and, I might add, of the general habits of the owners. But it is scarcely necessary for me to enlarge upon this subject, because every one who has seen well-trimmed borders and clean walks about the suburban or country homes is aware of the effect they have upon all the surroundings, and that they lead to greater and better things.—Cor. Rural New Yorker.