Great quantities
of manure are hauled upon the oat stubble in the early spring, and these
fields are planted to corn, while the corn stubble is fertilized by the
cover crop, and oats are sown. The land is taxed heavily every year, but
it increases in fertility and crop-making capacity. For the past two
years my oats have averaged forty-seven bushels and my corn nearly
sixty-eight bushels per acre. There is no waste land in my fields, and
we have made such a strenuous fight against weeds that they no longer
seriously tax the land. The wisdom of the work done on the fence rows is
now apparent. The ploughing and seeding made it easy to keep the brush
and weeds down; hay gathered close to the fences more than pays us for
the mowing; and we have no tall weed heads to load the wind with seeds.
This is a matter which is not sufficiently considered by the majority of
farmers, for weeds are allowed to tax the land almost as much as crops
do, and yet they pay no rent. Fence lines and corners are usually
breeding beds for these pests, and it will pay any landowner to suppress
them.
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