. WEEDS AND THEIR ERADICATION 125 



vent them from molding. When dry, mount them on a 

 piece of white paper by pasting over the stem and branches, 

 and upon the paper at several places, little strips of paper, 

 with mucilage or paste on one side. Plants carefully 

 mounted will be of great value for use in identifying weeds. 



Value of Collection. — Handling plants so thoroughly 

 and carefully, as is necessary to gather and mount them, 

 makes one quite familiar with them. You may be sure 

 your teacher would appreciate such a collection of weeds 

 for use in the schoolroom, especially if they are named. 

 If you do not know the name of some weed, and cannot 

 find out in your neighborhood, get as nearly a perfect speci- 

 men of the plant as you can (being sure to get the roots, 

 stem, leaves and, if possible, the flowers or head) and send 

 it to your State Experiment Station, and it will be named 

 for you. If you have studied botany or expect to study 

 it, you will find your work with weeds of great value. 



It is hoped that every reader will examine carefully 

 the weeds commonly found in his locality, until he can 

 recognize them all at sight. 



Questions: 



1. What is a weed? 



2. What do we commonly think of as weeds? 



3. How are weeds harmful? 



4. How great is the loss caused by weeds? 

 Arithmetic: 



1. If a field of wheat yielding 18 bus. per acre were injured 10% 

 by weeds, how much would it have yielded had it been free of weeds? 



2. If a boy can pull the mustard in an acre of ^ain in two days, 

 what does the mustard cost the farmer, if the boy's time is worth 60c. 

 per day? 



3. If a man spends an hour cleaning enough seed grain for two 

 acres, how much will it cost him per acre, if his time is worth 14c. 

 per hour? 



WEED SEEDS COMMON IN GRASS AND CLOVER SEED 



Clean Seed Grain. — However careful a farmer may be 

 and has been for several years, some weeds are bound to 

 spring up and grow from roots or from seeds which have 

 lain dormant in the soil for a year, or perhaps longer, until 

 recent plowing or harrowing has placed them where they 

 can grow. But many farmers increase the amount of weeds 

 in their fields, and often introduce new and bad varieties 



