"Pasture Management"
by E.B. White
Down here below the pasture pond,
O'er the lovely lea,
I went spraying the bushes
With 2, 4-D.
(For young, susceptible annual weeds, apply one to two pints per acre.)
I had read my bulletins,
I was in the know.
The two young heifers
Came and watched the show.
(Along ditches and fences rows, use 2,4-D when weeds are in a succulent stage. Won't harm livestock.)
Rank grew the pasture weeds,
The thistle and the bay;
A quiet, still morning,
A good time to spray.
(Control weeds the easy way with Agricultural Weed-No-More--not by chemical burn but by hormone action.)
Suddenly I looked and saw
What my spray had found:
The wild, shy strawberry
Was everywhere around.
(An alkyl ester of 2, 4-D is produced by reacting an alcohol with the raw 2, 4-D acid. The result is an oily liquid that sticks to weed leaves.)
What sort of madness,
Little man, is this?
What sort of answer to
The wild berry's kiss?
(Any 3- or 4-gallon garden pump-up sprayer can be used, after the standard nozzle has been replaced with a new precision nozzle.)
It seemed to me incredible
That I'd begun the day
By rendering inedible
A meal that came my way.
All across the pasture in
The strip I'd completed
Lay wild, ripe berries
With hormones treated.
(The booklet gives you the complete story.)
I stared at the heifers,
An idiot child;
I stared at the berries
That I had defiled.
I stared at the lambkill,
The juniper and bay.
I walked home slowly
And put my pump away.
Weed-No-More, my lady,
O weed no more today.
(Available in quarts, 1-gallon and 5-gallon cans, and 55-gallon drums.)
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