--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Tanner, Joseph M. collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 11 number: 8 published: 1908-06 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Joseph M. Tanner, "Thoughts of a Farmer. VIII. Weeds," *Improvement Era* 11, no. 8 (June 1908): 612–614.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1108unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera1108unse start_page: 612 end_page: 614 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1908-06) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1108unse publication_year: 1908 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1908, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Thoughts of a Farmer. VIII. Weeds THOUGHTS OF A FARMER. BY DR. JOSEPH M. TANNER. VIII— WEEDS. In Canada there are weed inspectors whose duty it is to pre- vent the spread of noxious weeds. The wild oat, the stink weed^ and certain species of mustard, are among the weeds most dreaded. Ordinary weeds may be overcome by planting grain which will so cover the ground as to give them no opportunity to grow. Wheat, for example, will choke out many kinds of weeds, and the impor- tant thing, is to plant the wheat so early that it gets the start of the weeds, and thick enough to cover the ground thoroughly. Ground left for a single year, uncultivated, will raise an enormous crop of weeds. It is surprising how quick the weeds will take a neglected field. Constant cultivation is the only safeguard against their growth; and even then, weeds will make inroads which it seems impossible to stem. There are, however, certain kinds of weeds, usually designated noxious, which the thrifty growth of wheat will not choke out . When once they get a hold upon the and sometimes land, it is almost impossible to exterminate them, fields must be abandoned even after they have been summer fal- lowed. The careful farmer is ever on the alert after noxious weeds. Last summer we went about through the field with a wagon pulling up the stink weed wherever one could be found, putting it carefully away in the wagon, in which it was hauled to some suitable place to be burned. The wheat does not choke it out. On the other hand, it soon chokes out the wheat, and if not fought heroically, it takes the field. In other words, the wheat must have superior aid in smothering down noxious weeds. THOUGHTS OF A FARMER. 613 Now, it is often said that if one will only fill up completely one's life with good, the evil that now and then creeps in will be choked out by the growth of that which is true and ennobling. In the first place, it is quite as impossible to fill every corner of one's life with good as it is to cover every spot in a wheat field with a luxuriant growth. True, the weeds in the bare spots may be over- come by summer fallowing, but the harmless weed always invites the noxious one, so that if the bare spot is left too long to grow harmless weeds, the farmer is sure to find in his field, weeds that are almost impossible to kill out. The doctrine of overcoming the evil by an abundant supply of the good finds another difficulty in the fact that so many evils are so noxious and enormous that they choke out the good rather than succumb to it. But where do these noxious weeds come from, one may ask? That is a puzzle. Their seeds are wafted in the air, and they grow in neighboring fields that are neglected. When once they get a start, they are too much for the grain. So it is in life; there are smaller evils that may be smothered by good, but he who imagines that heroic measures are not often necessary in choking out the noxious evils of life, finds his mistake after the field is taken. It is never safe to leave the evil in one's nature to be overcome by the good. The fact is, we need inspec- tors with all of their rules and regulations to help us, and their punishments to correct us, when we do not heed their instructions. These inspectors often detect weeds that are noxious where the unsophisticated farmer never dreams that there is a noxious weed, in miles of his farm. The inspector helps us to see, and then to correct the evil. There are many people in this world who do not admit the need of a teacher, and whose minds become rank with all sorts of noxious growths which they either do not see or to which they are criminally indifferent. Again, some people disdain the suggestion that they need help to better or correct their ways of life. What would some of us do if we were laid over for a season or two in order that the fields of our moral and spiritual natures might be summer fallowed, and the grosser evils weeded out of our lives? That is what we may need, if we be not lost altogether. It may seem like a loss of time, but after all, the soil gains strength by the working, and makes good when the work of 614 IMPROVEMENT ERA. life begins again. There are, perhaps, no fields that may not be improved by summer fallowing. There is a Husbandman in life with whose watchful care we may well entrust ourselves, when the evils about us threaten to overpower the good that is within us. It is, of course, a most excellent doctrine which teaches us so to fill our lives with that which is useful and good that there will be but little or no place for evil to dwell. But it has its ex- ceptions, at any rate its modifications; for there are evils which, when once they take hold upon our lives, the good that is within us will not choke out. We need help from without. The help of friends, and above all, the help of God. If our neighbors have stink weedsgrowing in their fields, the weeds are very likely soon to cross the partition fence and make havoc upon our own ground. What an unfortunate thing it is to have neighbors whose fields grow all sorts of noxious weeds ! A man who would be respectable himself, finds it difficult, when sur- rounded by those whose habits are noxious and whose lives are in- fected with evil. Alberta. Canada. PRESIDENT YOUNG'S COUNSEL TO THE SOLDIERS. In speaking to the boys who were about to be mustered into the famous "Mormon Battalion, " to serve as volunteers in the war with Mexico, President Brigham Young, on July 1, 1846, urged the prudence of enlisting to defend our country's cause, and in his speech that day said, as recorded in his journal: "Let the 'Mormons' be the first men to set their feet on the soil of Cali- fornia Be humble, and pray every morning and evening in your tents. A private soldier is as honorable as an officer, if he behaves as well. No one is distinguished as being better flesh and blood than another. Honor the calling of every man in his place. Keep neat and clean, teach chastity, equality and civility; swearing must not be permitted. Insult no man. Have no contentious conversa- tions with any class of people. Impose not your principles on any people. Take your Bibles and Books of Mormon with you; burn your cards, if you have any." This is good counsel, even to this day.