93^ Rural School Leaflet 



they are established in the fields. It is a case in which " a stitch in time 

 saves nine." 



The chief source of supply of weed seeds in any locality lies in the badly 

 tilled fields, the neglected areas, and the unkept roadsides. Fields that 

 are tilled as thoroughly as they should be for the sake of the crops growing 

 on them usually do not produce much weed seed. This statement will 

 not hold in the case of cereal crops growing on land infested with mustard, 

 chess, and the like. Thorough cultivation of the land, cleaning up of the 

 hedgerows, and mowing of the fence comers and roadsides, are among the 

 first steps to be taken in the suppression of weeds. 



The sowing of impure seed is an important source of weed perpetuation. 

 In oats we are likely to find mustard, Canada thistle, and ragweed; wheat 

 or rye may carry chess or cockle ; grass and clover seed may carry a large 

 variety of pernicious weed seeds, such as the daisy, wild carrob, and 

 plantain. 



There is no excuse for sowing impure seeds. Pure seeds can be obtained. 

 Impure seeds should be either cleaned or rejected. In the case of grass 

 and clover seeds the experiment stations will examine and report on the 

 purity of samples, or, better still, the farmers may supply themselves with 

 a hand lens and a seed bulletin and they will soon be able to test seeds for 

 themselves. 



Probably the most dangerous means of weed distribution at the present 

 time is in the mill and brewery by-products that are sold for stock food. 

 The grain screenings, containing large numbers of weed seed, are added 

 to these by-products in many cases. Users of such feeds should examine 

 them critically and reject them if they contain live weed seeds. There 

 should be effective laws to prevent the selling of seeds or feeds infested 

 with pernicious weed seeds. 



Stable manure is always a fruitful means of weed dissemination unless 

 great care is taken to keep weed seeds out of it, or unless the manure is 

 thoroughly composted before being applied to the land. City manure is 

 even more likely to introduce troublesome weeds than country manure, 

 but city manure is rarely purchased except for farms on which the tillage 

 is fairly thorough, thus holding the weeds in check. 



Itinerant threshing machines, when allowed to come on a fann without 

 having been cleaned out thoroughly, often bring certain weed seeds from 

 an infested farm to one heretofore free from the kind brought in. It is 

 well to insist that the machines be thoroughly cleaned before coming 

 on the farm. 



Hay and straw used for packing often carry weed seeds long distances 

 to localities not infested with them. It is well to bum such material in 

 order to avoid this danger. 



