926 



Rural School Leaflet. 



before the tenth of the month. Previous to this time the land has been 

 plowed and has been harrowed or cultivated at intervals. By this pro- 

 cess the weeds are allowed to come up and then they are destroyed. 

 A clean seed bed is thus formed for the alfalfa seed. This is important 

 because the young plant is very susceptible to choking by weeds. 

 Corn should be planted on land that has just been harvested so as to 

 kill the sprouting weeds. 



Doubtless many weeds may be destroyed if not allowed to mature 

 seeds. The weeds in a pasture may be very greatly reduced in number 

 by the use of the mowing machine. They must be cut, however, before 

 they ripen any seeds. The above principle applies especially to those 

 weeds which live but one or two years. To this class belong such weeds 

 as pig weed and wild carrot. 



Another precaution may be added which applies to the introduction 

 of weeds. Often stable manure is applied to garden or lawn. This 

 may be full of the worst kind of weed seeds if brought from the city or 

 neighboring farms. A lawn, otherwise good, may be very seriously 

 damaged in this manner. Unless one is very certain that the stable 

 manure used is free from bad weeds it is best to resort to some 

 other method of fertilizing, such as the use of bone meal or other 

 fertilizers. 



Farmers and gardeners often ask whether there is not some easy 

 method of getting rid of weeds. We are inclined to want to salt 

 them or to apply some other chemical solution and kill them in an un- 

 usual manner. Many experiments have been tried along this line, but 

 with little success. This matter will be discussed in the next lesson. 



Fig. 45. — Daisies as weeds 



