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EXPERIENCE DEPARTMENT How Does the Law on Mowing Weeds ln the Roads Work? Offer Suggestions. 1st Premium —In our district we are well pleased with the workings of the new road law pertaining to the mowing of the weeds on the road side. Oar supervisor rigidly enforced the law, and in one case hired a man to do the work for a large farmer who never mows his fence corners even on the Inside. For several years no stock has been allowed on the highways, and as a result the roadside is rapidly setting in bine grass, and ere long It will cost but a trifle to keep down what few weeds get a. start. The fears were that the time consumed in cutting weeds, and charged up to fall road work would materially out short the gravel hauling, but one year's experienoe has proven that we have almost as much gravel out this season as usual, and the roadsides present the appearance of neatness and thrift. It will no doubt have a tendenoy to make the careless farmer olean np the inside of his fenoe corners, seeing the improved appearance caused by the supervisor's work on the outside. I would suggest that the thing most needed ls to have supervisors enforce the laws. I am led to make this suggestion because I see ln driving over the oountry that many supervisors have made no effort to enforce the law. If after a fair trial, the law seems to detraot too muoh from the gravel hauling, let the levy for road purposes bs inoreased so that all persons will virtually mow their own weeds free of cost, as ail enterprising farmers have been doing for years. Weed's Enemy. 2d Premium—Tne law in this looallty works to the satisfaction and gain of a majority of the farmers. There are a great many of the farmers, or more properly speaking land owners, who have paid no attention to the weeds and bnshes along the highways, and ln many plaoes the spacj from the roadway baok two or three rods In the field has grown up in weeds, and briers and bushes until it looks more like a wilderness than the habitation of man. Since there has been offered compensation for improving their own premises, 00 per cent of the roadways have been cleared up, adding over 100 per cent to the appearance and value of adjacent property. Those places have been the breeding grounds of broom sage, thistles,burrs and other pests, muoh to the annoyance of a neighbor who takes some Interest ln his farm and tries to keep lt olean. We think the law was a move in the right direotion, and after a trial of two or three years giving each one an opportunity to clean up their boundary line with no expense, it should be so changed and amended as to -compel him to do the work without a credit on his taxes, and make a fine sufficient to get some one else to do it in case of failure. The roads need all the work they ever got and a man should have pride enough to keep his farm decent, or qnit the business. Jennings Co. Farmer. 3d Premium.—The law ln regard to mowing weeds works well in this dlstriot. Farmers are glad to mow tb.I.-roads, when paid for so doing. Many farmers have cut down bushes, briars,:.**to , along their farms, bringing to the publio gaze old rotten rail fences, which will have to be reset to compare favorably with the roadsides. The weeds were out this year after most of them, especially ti>' '**•«. had matured seed, whioh is the most serious fault we find in the law, or rather the enforcement of it. In different localities, weeds should be mowed at different seasons, according to varieties. Where the thistle is the predominant weed, they shonld be mowed joit before it blooms, about August 1st. Some weeds require mowing a great deal earlier than this,and a few later. We would favor an extension of.the time, say from July 1st to Sept. 1st, and that supervisors compel farmers to mow just before the prevailing weeds bloom. Where the roadsides are not well set in grass, weeds should be mowed twice daring the summer. We don't want any more seed to mature. Farmers are more apt to mow the weeds Inside their fences when those outside are out. Wayne Co. C. S. B.ard. In traveling along the publio highways one oan but notice the air of tidiness, whioh seems to prevail. The removal of all brush, briers and noxious weeds has improved the appearanoe more than one can imagine. Many an old rail fence ls to-day basking in the warm rays of a bright September sun for the first time in a decade. Most farmers have complied with the requirements of the new law. We are Inclined to believe, however, that the law is nearer a failure than a success for the following reasons: All good farmers have been in the habit of keeping the highways in good condition heretofore, and would have continued to do so without any law at all. It takes a large sum of money, which has been heretofore used in improving the road bed, and uses it along the fenoe where it will be of no direct benefit to the public, as the supervisor cannot be In different parts of his (J is trio t at the same time, it puts a temptation before men to charge for more work than they really do. We think it would bs mnoh better if the next legislature would pass a law requiring the publio highways to ba kept in order by the owners of the adjacent lands, gratis, and oontinue as heretofore to use alimonies paid in for road purposes for the improvement of the road bed. H. E. D. Washington Co. If I should be oalled on to deoide the oase as a judge in oonrt, lt would be a de cided "no good." I have notioed all my life that a man who thought anything of his farm, kept it clean inside as well as outside the .fences. Take some of onr greatest land owners, and their very door yards are fnll of noxious weeds, and what is the difference if thero are a few along the road? Some of our roads were fairly crowded with thistles, burdocks and oockleburrs until the last day of grace, when a man or boy w< s sent to orop them down. The thistles had shed their woolly caps, the cow (another good law) had carefully gathered the burs and distributed them all over the township she was ln the habit of grazing in. I am forced to think sometimes that our legislature is a fizzle. A giist of laws is run through every two years and onr men come home with great honor, only to help break these same laws which have been made. If weeds must be mowed by law, mow Inside the fence ss well as outside. Make the rich as well as the poor mow, the town land owner as well as the small farmer, and then all over the farm and not a small bit along the roadway, and call it a weed law. I would suggest also that they should be mowed before the bloom is perfect, J.W. K. Wabash Co. - As yie drive over our conntry roads we oan see that something has happened. The roads look clear and open, the briars and weeds have been cut, in places where they had not been out for years before. The law is a flne thing to get some of the lazy farmers out to work where they can idle along and get $125 a day (eight hours) to do their own work. Why not pass a law to compel each man to keep the briars and weeds cut along the rosd that joins his land? And if he does not keep the trash cut down let the road supervisor have it done at his expense. The law as itis now I consider as an unjust one; for (he man that has done his duty for ten y .are or more can cut hia part of the trash in two or three hours, while the idler who has not cut his for ten years may spend a week at the job and get so muoh more money than the man that has kept his road cleaned eaoh year. Again let the road supervisors keep the road clean, and every man pay according to his wealth. B B. The law on cutting weeds along the road is a failure as far as preventing the scattering of seeds of obnoxious weeds ls conoerned, as the seeds are mostly ripe before the 20th of August. To prevent the seeding from the roadside they will have to be ont twice in the proper season. About all we gain in cutting on the 20th of August is the beautifying of the road, after we have had to look on tho obnoxious stuff through all the growing season- One thing farmers will learn from having to out the weeds Is not to throw their rubbish from the fields into the road. If farmers would keep their road sides olean of rubbish It takes but a short time to drive along the road with the mower twice during the summer, and the beauty of your road and the attraction to the traveler ought to pay you and your family for the labor if you have any appreciation of the beautiful. I observe farmers who have mowed the roadside and forgot to mow the fence row inside. O, what a beautiful oontrastl Well, they got an allowance on their road tax for the outside and forgot that the reward for mow- in0 the inside would have been greater still. The law ls a start in the right direction; yes, push it along until our roadsides are as olean of rubbish and weeds as the lawn along the streets of our cities. Marion Co. I. N. Cotton. The road law on mowing weeds is a fine thing. It canses people to out their weeds along the roads who never thought of it before, and don't think about any of the others yet. Bat $125 for eight hours' work will cause some people to work a little that would not otherwise do so. Along some of the fence rows cut In this community where the briers and bushes were cut the fence was almost rotted down for the wantof sunshine and air. The roads are much better with olean sides,so the sun can strike them; they dry off muoh sooner when we have rains, especially In the spring when we usually have so much rain. It doesn't bother any that way now; we would be glad now to see some rain. A B. C. Harrison Co. When I first heard of the weed law I did not think muoh about lt; for, I supposed it applied t. roads not kept up by the oounty. Buton being better informed I determined to have our share of that $1 25 money. Ours being a six-foot mower and there being one side of 160 rods of road to mow, we got in three swipes, of about 15 minutes eaob, or 45 minutes. We suppose if the road supervisor be real lenient he will allow us for one hour's time or 15 cents, which hardly compensates us for the bother, to say nothing about grinding the sickle at both ends of the experience, and a broken section. To some, $125 may look bigger than a mowing machine, but we have oome to the conclusion it is nearer the sizs of asoythe with a 25 or 60 oents a day boy to wield it. Tlppeoanoe Co. C. W. R REVIEW. We see by our correspondents how difficult lt is to make a praotical law, since all laws must be general, covering all the State. It oertainly ls true that In most sections weeds should be mowed twice. I noticed the other day where we had mowed, a good crop of ragweeds is in full bloom now. Several writers would compel farmers to mow their road fronts. Suoh a law would be unjust and unconstitutional. In most cases we have already donated the use of the roadway, And we now have Idle capital in it, and pay taxes on the land used for roads; why should wo keep it mowed and oleared? Let the publio who use it do that. But the law does show several weak points ln practice. In trying to put the farmer on the baok it makes the work botb uncertain and costly. It ls too much everybodies business and is loosely done. Itwould be vastly more satislactory if the trustee were to hire all of the roads mowed. For example, ln oentral Indiana the ground ls pretty level, and lt is quite oommon to keep the roadway olean enough to mow with a machine. This ls very oommon about here. Now, my man mowed my side of the road and ran empty baok leaving the neighbor to mow his side. This is very common,costing twice as much as it ought to. Again my man mowed 80 rods and turned at each end. The snpervlsor could run a machine across his dlstriot without turning. He oould also mow both ways, going and ooming. Again: Oa many farms it ls a half mile or more to go to mow 80 reds one side the road. It takes three times as long to get hltohed up and to the work as lt takes to dolt. Again: Itis an indncement to slovenly farmers and dishonest men to leave the road full of grubs and looso stumps, logs and rails, so one can't use the machine, and he gets to kill more time mowing by hand, while the reverse would be true if tho trustee had the whole job. Suppose one man owned the State and wanted the weeds mowed along highways. Wouldn't it be an awkward unbusinesslike method for him to tnrn loose a hundred thousand hands with no boss and no responsibility and allow them to have every advantage of poor tools and killing time? What would such a man do? He would lnstruot his district superintendents (trustees if you please) to clean up, as far as practical, all rubbish and grubs, so machinery could bs used, and then employ competent, well directed help to mow lt How many times have I already seen men standing ln the road, Ecy the in hand, enjoying a good talk with passers by. It is the best place in the world to kill time, and every motive is offered by this law to . prolong tr.e Job. As W. W. P. says, the normal condition of the roadside is to be a tough bluegrass sod. Where not too much shaded, this would be brought about much more quickly If sown to bluegrass. We have miles of roadside where hogs have not rooted, and where the road bed is piked so the sides are not tramped ln muddy weather that scarcely grow a weed. Thia work of weed mowing may need continuing a long time ln places, bnt whole counties can Boon avoid the larger expense by getting it sodded. One drawback to natural sodding is allowing weeds to make a rank growth early in the season, Jast when the grass needs a chance. If mowed earlier grass would come sooner, T. B T. doesn't allow a weed to seed on his premises, and his road running through his farm is a solid bluegrass sod, and don't need mowing. He mows the road between his house and barn with a lawn mower. I asked one of his neighbors how they liked Teny, "O, pretty well." The neighbors criticised him a while becanse he wouldn't let hogs run ln the road. No. 82, Sept. 31.—How does the law on mowing weeds in the roads work? Offer suggestions. Premiums of $1, 75o and 60o will be given to 1st, 2d and 3d best articles eaoh week. Let copy be as practical as possl ble and forward it 10 days before publication to Carmel. E. H. Collins.
Object Description
Title | Indiana farmer, 1897, v. 32, no. 40 (Oct. 2) |
Purdue Identification Number | INFA3240 |
Date of Original | 1897 |
Subjects (LCSH) |
Agriculture Farm management Horticulture Agricultural machinery |
Subjects (NALT) |
agriculture farm management horticulture agricultural machinery and equipment |
Genre | Periodical |
Call Number of Original | 630.5 In2 |
Location of Original | Hicks Repository |
Coverage | United States - Indiana |
Type | text |
Format | JP2 |
Language | eng |
Collection Title | Indiana Farmer |
Rights Statement | Content in the Indiana Farmer Collection is in the public domain (published before 1923) or lacks a known copyright holder. Digital images in the collection may be used for educational, non-commercial, or not-for-profit purposes. |
Repository | Purdue University Libraries |
Date Digitized | 2011-01-24 |
Digitization Information | Original scanned at 300 ppi on a Bookeye 3 scanner using internal software. Display images generated in CONTENTdm as JP2000s; file format for archival copy is uncompressed TIF format. |
Description
Title | Page 1 |
Subjects (LCSH) |
Agriculture Farm management Horticulture Agricultural machinery |
Subjects (NALT) |
agriculture farm management horticulture agricultural machinery and equipment |
Genre | Periodical |
Call Number of Original | 630.5 In2 |
Location of Original | Hicks Repository |
Coverage | Indiana |
Type | text |
Format | JP2 |
Language | eng |
Collection Title | Indiana Farmer |
Rights Statement | Content in the Indiana Farmer Collection is in the public domain (published before 1923) or lacks a known copyright holder. Digital images in the collection may be used for educational, non-commercial, or non-for-profit purposes. |
Repository | Purdue University Libraries |
Digitization Information | Orignal scanned at 300 ppi on a Bookeye 3 scanner using internal software. Display images generated in CONTENTdm as JP2000s; file format for archival copy is uncompressed TIF format. |
Transcript | EXPERIENCE DEPARTMENT How Does the Law on Mowing Weeds ln the Roads Work? Offer Suggestions. 1st Premium —In our district we are well pleased with the workings of the new road law pertaining to the mowing of the weeds on the road side. Oar supervisor rigidly enforced the law, and in one case hired a man to do the work for a large farmer who never mows his fence corners even on the Inside. For several years no stock has been allowed on the highways, and as a result the roadside is rapidly setting in bine grass, and ere long It will cost but a trifle to keep down what few weeds get a. start. The fears were that the time consumed in cutting weeds, and charged up to fall road work would materially out short the gravel hauling, but one year's experienoe has proven that we have almost as much gravel out this season as usual, and the roadsides present the appearance of neatness and thrift. It will no doubt have a tendenoy to make the careless farmer olean np the inside of his fenoe corners, seeing the improved appearance caused by the supervisor's work on the outside. I would suggest that the thing most needed ls to have supervisors enforce the laws. I am led to make this suggestion because I see ln driving over the oountry that many supervisors have made no effort to enforce the law. If after a fair trial, the law seems to detraot too muoh from the gravel hauling, let the levy for road purposes bs inoreased so that all persons will virtually mow their own weeds free of cost, as ail enterprising farmers have been doing for years. Weed's Enemy. 2d Premium—Tne law in this looallty works to the satisfaction and gain of a majority of the farmers. There are a great many of the farmers, or more properly speaking land owners, who have paid no attention to the weeds and bnshes along the highways, and ln many plaoes the spacj from the roadway baok two or three rods In the field has grown up in weeds, and briers and bushes until it looks more like a wilderness than the habitation of man. Since there has been offered compensation for improving their own premises, 00 per cent of the roadways have been cleared up, adding over 100 per cent to the appearance and value of adjacent property. Those places have been the breeding grounds of broom sage, thistles,burrs and other pests, muoh to the annoyance of a neighbor who takes some Interest ln his farm and tries to keep lt olean. We think the law was a move in the right direotion, and after a trial of two or three years giving each one an opportunity to clean up their boundary line with no expense, it should be so changed and amended as to -compel him to do the work without a credit on his taxes, and make a fine sufficient to get some one else to do it in case of failure. The roads need all the work they ever got and a man should have pride enough to keep his farm decent, or qnit the business. Jennings Co. Farmer. 3d Premium.—The law ln regard to mowing weeds works well in this dlstriot. Farmers are glad to mow tb.I.-roads, when paid for so doing. Many farmers have cut down bushes, briars,:.**to , along their farms, bringing to the publio gaze old rotten rail fences, which will have to be reset to compare favorably with the roadsides. The weeds were out this year after most of them, especially ti>' '**•«. had matured seed, whioh is the most serious fault we find in the law, or rather the enforcement of it. In different localities, weeds should be mowed at different seasons, according to varieties. Where the thistle is the predominant weed, they shonld be mowed joit before it blooms, about August 1st. Some weeds require mowing a great deal earlier than this,and a few later. We would favor an extension of.the time, say from July 1st to Sept. 1st, and that supervisors compel farmers to mow just before the prevailing weeds bloom. Where the roadsides are not well set in grass, weeds should be mowed twice daring the summer. We don't want any more seed to mature. Farmers are more apt to mow the weeds Inside their fences when those outside are out. Wayne Co. C. S. B.ard. In traveling along the publio highways one oan but notice the air of tidiness, whioh seems to prevail. The removal of all brush, briers and noxious weeds has improved the appearanoe more than one can imagine. Many an old rail fence ls to-day basking in the warm rays of a bright September sun for the first time in a decade. Most farmers have complied with the requirements of the new law. We are Inclined to believe, however, that the law is nearer a failure than a success for the following reasons: All good farmers have been in the habit of keeping the highways in good condition heretofore, and would have continued to do so without any law at all. It takes a large sum of money, which has been heretofore used in improving the road bed, and uses it along the fenoe where it will be of no direct benefit to the public, as the supervisor cannot be In different parts of his (J is trio t at the same time, it puts a temptation before men to charge for more work than they really do. We think it would bs mnoh better if the next legislature would pass a law requiring the publio highways to ba kept in order by the owners of the adjacent lands, gratis, and oontinue as heretofore to use alimonies paid in for road purposes for the improvement of the road bed. H. E. D. Washington Co. If I should be oalled on to deoide the oase as a judge in oonrt, lt would be a de cided "no good." I have notioed all my life that a man who thought anything of his farm, kept it clean inside as well as outside the .fences. Take some of onr greatest land owners, and their very door yards are fnll of noxious weeds, and what is the difference if thero are a few along the road? Some of our roads were fairly crowded with thistles, burdocks and oockleburrs until the last day of grace, when a man or boy w< s sent to orop them down. The thistles had shed their woolly caps, the cow (another good law) had carefully gathered the burs and distributed them all over the township she was ln the habit of grazing in. I am forced to think sometimes that our legislature is a fizzle. A giist of laws is run through every two years and onr men come home with great honor, only to help break these same laws which have been made. If weeds must be mowed by law, mow Inside the fence ss well as outside. Make the rich as well as the poor mow, the town land owner as well as the small farmer, and then all over the farm and not a small bit along the roadway, and call it a weed law. I would suggest also that they should be mowed before the bloom is perfect, J.W. K. Wabash Co. - As yie drive over our conntry roads we oan see that something has happened. The roads look clear and open, the briars and weeds have been cut, in places where they had not been out for years before. The law is a flne thing to get some of the lazy farmers out to work where they can idle along and get $125 a day (eight hours) to do their own work. Why not pass a law to compel each man to keep the briars and weeds cut along the rosd that joins his land? And if he does not keep the trash cut down let the road supervisor have it done at his expense. The law as itis now I consider as an unjust one; for (he man that has done his duty for ten y .are or more can cut hia part of the trash in two or three hours, while the idler who has not cut his for ten years may spend a week at the job and get so muoh more money than the man that has kept his road cleaned eaoh year. Again let the road supervisors keep the road clean, and every man pay according to his wealth. B B. The law on cutting weeds along the road is a failure as far as preventing the scattering of seeds of obnoxious weeds ls conoerned, as the seeds are mostly ripe before the 20th of August. To prevent the seeding from the roadside they will have to be ont twice in the proper season. About all we gain in cutting on the 20th of August is the beautifying of the road, after we have had to look on tho obnoxious stuff through all the growing season- One thing farmers will learn from having to out the weeds Is not to throw their rubbish from the fields into the road. If farmers would keep their road sides olean of rubbish It takes but a short time to drive along the road with the mower twice during the summer, and the beauty of your road and the attraction to the traveler ought to pay you and your family for the labor if you have any appreciation of the beautiful. I observe farmers who have mowed the roadside and forgot to mow the fence row inside. O, what a beautiful oontrastl Well, they got an allowance on their road tax for the outside and forgot that the reward for mow- in0 the inside would have been greater still. The law ls a start in the right direction; yes, push it along until our roadsides are as olean of rubbish and weeds as the lawn along the streets of our cities. Marion Co. I. N. Cotton. The road law on mowing weeds is a fine thing. It canses people to out their weeds along the roads who never thought of it before, and don't think about any of the others yet. Bat $125 for eight hours' work will cause some people to work a little that would not otherwise do so. Along some of the fence rows cut In this community where the briers and bushes were cut the fence was almost rotted down for the wantof sunshine and air. The roads are much better with olean sides,so the sun can strike them; they dry off muoh sooner when we have rains, especially In the spring when we usually have so much rain. It doesn't bother any that way now; we would be glad now to see some rain. A B. C. Harrison Co. When I first heard of the weed law I did not think muoh about lt; for, I supposed it applied t. roads not kept up by the oounty. Buton being better informed I determined to have our share of that $1 25 money. Ours being a six-foot mower and there being one side of 160 rods of road to mow, we got in three swipes, of about 15 minutes eaob, or 45 minutes. We suppose if the road supervisor be real lenient he will allow us for one hour's time or 15 cents, which hardly compensates us for the bother, to say nothing about grinding the sickle at both ends of the experience, and a broken section. To some, $125 may look bigger than a mowing machine, but we have oome to the conclusion it is nearer the sizs of asoythe with a 25 or 60 oents a day boy to wield it. Tlppeoanoe Co. C. W. R REVIEW. We see by our correspondents how difficult lt is to make a praotical law, since all laws must be general, covering all the State. It oertainly ls true that In most sections weeds should be mowed twice. I noticed the other day where we had mowed, a good crop of ragweeds is in full bloom now. Several writers would compel farmers to mow their road fronts. Suoh a law would be unjust and unconstitutional. In most cases we have already donated the use of the roadway, And we now have Idle capital in it, and pay taxes on the land used for roads; why should wo keep it mowed and oleared? Let the publio who use it do that. But the law does show several weak points ln practice. In trying to put the farmer on the baok it makes the work botb uncertain and costly. It ls too much everybodies business and is loosely done. Itwould be vastly more satislactory if the trustee were to hire all of the roads mowed. For example, ln oentral Indiana the ground ls pretty level, and lt is quite oommon to keep the roadway olean enough to mow with a machine. This ls very oommon about here. Now, my man mowed my side of the road and ran empty baok leaving the neighbor to mow his side. This is very common,costing twice as much as it ought to. Again my man mowed 80 rods and turned at each end. The snpervlsor could run a machine across his dlstriot without turning. He oould also mow both ways, going and ooming. Again: Oa many farms it ls a half mile or more to go to mow 80 reds one side the road. It takes three times as long to get hltohed up and to the work as lt takes to dolt. Again: Itis an indncement to slovenly farmers and dishonest men to leave the road full of grubs and looso stumps, logs and rails, so one can't use the machine, and he gets to kill more time mowing by hand, while the reverse would be true if tho trustee had the whole job. Suppose one man owned the State and wanted the weeds mowed along highways. Wouldn't it be an awkward unbusinesslike method for him to tnrn loose a hundred thousand hands with no boss and no responsibility and allow them to have every advantage of poor tools and killing time? What would such a man do? He would lnstruot his district superintendents (trustees if you please) to clean up, as far as practical, all rubbish and grubs, so machinery could bs used, and then employ competent, well directed help to mow lt How many times have I already seen men standing ln the road, Ecy the in hand, enjoying a good talk with passers by. It is the best place in the world to kill time, and every motive is offered by this law to . prolong tr.e Job. As W. W. P. says, the normal condition of the roadside is to be a tough bluegrass sod. Where not too much shaded, this would be brought about much more quickly If sown to bluegrass. We have miles of roadside where hogs have not rooted, and where the road bed is piked so the sides are not tramped ln muddy weather that scarcely grow a weed. Thia work of weed mowing may need continuing a long time ln places, bnt whole counties can Boon avoid the larger expense by getting it sodded. One drawback to natural sodding is allowing weeds to make a rank growth early in the season, Jast when the grass needs a chance. If mowed earlier grass would come sooner, T. B T. doesn't allow a weed to seed on his premises, and his road running through his farm is a solid bluegrass sod, and don't need mowing. He mows the road between his house and barn with a lawn mower. I asked one of his neighbors how they liked Teny, "O, pretty well." The neighbors criticised him a while becanse he wouldn't let hogs run ln the road. No. 82, Sept. 31.—How does the law on mowing weeds in the roads work? Offer suggestions. Premiums of $1, 75o and 60o will be given to 1st, 2d and 3d best articles eaoh week. Let copy be as practical as possl ble and forward it 10 days before publication to Carmel. E. H. Collins. |
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