.•'.44 ANMAL KKTOHT OF TIIK Off. Doc. 



iiij;- never allowiiiii weeds lo seed by elippiiiji, with ;i inowei- when in 

 bloom and the manuring ol' every principal crop with fresh stable 

 manure. 



Weeds were plenty on this farm before the radical changes in 

 management and new methods were introduced. The first departure 

 was to discontinue Ihe old plan of a long rotation and instead of 

 manuring once in four or live years with barnyard manure of doubt- 

 ful value, lo haul fresh stable manure of known worth and top dress 

 grass itself. Along with this was ]jractice(l new methods of seed- 

 ing certain crops; grass being one of these. To sow timothy with 

 vrheat at seeding and then add clover to the crop by sowing it on 

 the wheat field in the following spring some time when the "sign 

 was right," was wholly adandoued for the mixture of grass, such 

 as clover, timothy, red top and alsike seeding these in the month 

 of August at one sowing without a reverse crop of any kind. The 

 reason for this change, if for no other, yet there are others, most 

 weighty, was due to the following: If timothy is sown with wheat, 

 the timothy seed runs into the same furrow or drill with the wheat. 

 The hoes on a grain drill are never less than six inches apart, thus 

 having a space six inches wide for weeds to grow and only a string- 

 like groove for the wheat and timothy stalks. If clover is sown in 

 the s])ring on this hard and weather beaten grain field depending on 

 cracks for tillage there is much of it, if not all settles in the same 

 grooves already occupied by the. timothy and wheat so that the 

 six inch space for weeds has not been encroached upon very much 

 by the clover. When the wheat begins to grow also the clover and 

 timothy in the spring, the weeds have full six inches of room on 

 which to nourish and they do; they get an excellent start and keep 

 it. Many of them are just high enough when the wheat is cut to 

 miss the sickle of the machine. If they are not in bloom and many 

 of them are not, if clipped, start afresh and grow with more vigor 

 than ever, liut manj' fall weeds ripen about the same time as the 

 wheat such as garlic, cockle and other weeds harvested, stored and 

 threshed with the grain. These if ground with the wheat into flour 

 either discolor or give a very unpleasant taste to bread, and if they 

 escape grinding are returned to the land per the manure or other- 

 wise only to infest the field again. 



It is ve^-y clear from what is only too common in experience that 

 the old style of seeding grass with a reverse crop is a very fruitful 

 source of weeds. Nor does the evil they affect on the wheat crop 

 cease with it, but a still more serious result follows their presence 

 in the hay crop that succeeds the wheat harvest. Nowhere do weeds 

 appear in greater abundance, more varieties and more objectional 

 than in the feeding value of hay. Their rank growth, towering 

 height and woody stalks do not only appear above the timothy and 

 clover but smother the growth of Ihe valuable grasses and injure 

 the feeding value of the lougliage. ^Inny weeds ripen their seeds 

 before the timothy and clover are in bloom either to reseed the 

 field, or are cut with the grass, cured with the hay and hauled to 

 the barn stored awa}' safely in the mows, to go through the live- 

 stock when fed like gun shot undigested, pass into the manure pile 

 to reseed the land when the uumure is spread on the fields. After 

 hay hauling is finished and the bam floor swept, it is surprising to 

 see the sorrel, plaintain, dock and other weed seeds that have shat- 



