34 THE MONTHLY BULLETIN. 



a careful investigation of the reasons for the loss of water, and of the 

 means of maintaining a suitable supply. 



Cover crops should never l)e grown in California in summer except 

 M^here the gain from the crop more than balances the expense of 

 irrigation. A thorough cultivation and a good mulch is the most 

 effective means of aiding the conservation of moisture. Transpiration 

 is two and a half times as great as evaporation. As California becomes 

 more thickly populated, and water is in greater demand, this phase of 

 scientific farming will become increasingly important. To me it has 

 always been a source of wonder that so few farmers and orchardists 

 realize its bearing on their incomes. This past summer I had occasion 

 to superintend the cleaning up of a once thrifty cherry and apricot 

 orchard in Santa Clara County. Fifty per cent of the cherry trees 

 were afflicted with die-back, and many were absolutely dead. Of the 

 apricots 45 per cent were loaded with borers, and the branches coated 

 with black scale and soot fungus. The trees wej:'e lacking in vitality. 

 Absolutely there was no other reason than weeds and lack of moisture. 

 The place is a monument to the efficiency of these death dealers, a mute 

 testimony to the inefficiency of the owner. 



REDUCTION OF SOIL FERTILITY. 



I have heard many people say : The weeds are good, let them grow 

 and plow them under for green manure. Those people are making a 

 great mistake. The weed is not the plant to be used for green manure. 

 It does more damage to fertility than good. In the Fortieth Fruit 

 Growers' Convention Report of California the following comment 

 appears : 



"In addition to taking plant food, they (weeds) produce an injury to tlie plant by 

 leaving in the soil a poisonous influence. According to Dr. Whitney, Chief of the 

 Bureau of Soils at Washington, weeds leave behind them that which destroys soil 

 fertility. Weeds must be kept out, not (only) because they use water, or because they 

 use plant food, but because they are pre.iudicial to most crops. They have a poison- 

 ous effect on the crop. It is a case of incompatibility of association ; they will not 

 grow together. They poison each other." 



REDUCTION OF PROPERTY VALUES. 



And now I come to the last injurious effect of weeds — the reduction 

 of farm values. The owner of the Santa Clara farm mentioned on a 

 preceding page, values his place at $600 an acre. Perhaps it is worth 

 that, but he can not get this much for it, unless he works the orchard 

 over. It would cost a purchaser over $100 an acre to work the land 

 back into good thrift. The carelessness of this owner has lost for him 

 $7,000. 



The following extracts taken from the various experiment station 

 bulletins well illustrate this point : Wisconsin Circular 19 : " There are 

 many farms in this state on which 25 per cent of the crop producing 

 capacity has been destroyed by weeds." Farmers of California, how 

 much would that eat out of your income ! 



South Dakota Bulletin 150: "The farms in central and southern 

 Iowa which, if free from such weeds as horse nettle, would bring from 

 $150 to $200 an acre. Being infested as they are, it is impossible for 

 the owners to sell such land." 



United States Department of Agriculture Bulletin 15: "A weed 

 new to America made its appearance a few years ago in the wheat rais- 



