WEEDS AXD THEIR ERADICATIOX 127 



long, crooked awn. This awn is not always a safe 

 guide, as it is often broken off in the threshing machine. 

 See Figure 54. 



Wild buckwheat is a black, three-sided seed, often 

 found covered with a brown husk. It is nearly the size 

 of a kernel of wheat, and common in grain grown on old 

 fields. See Figure 53. 



Wild pea or vetch is a heavy, dark brown or gray seed, 

 round in shape and about the size of, or a little larger than, 

 a kernel of wheat. It closely resembles in shape the com- 

 mon garden pea, and is easily split in halves the same as 

 a pea or a bean. It is common in grain. See Figure 53. 



Much more will be learned about the above weeds, if 

 samples of grain are examined and specimens of weeds seed 

 of each variety discussed are found and studied. 

 Questions: 



1. Have you ever seen a farm that was entirely free from weeds? 



2. Tell at least two ways in which weeds get into fields. 



3. Describe each weed seed you have studied. 

 Arithmetic: 



1. If a farmer sows a 50-acre field of grain with seed containing 

 3% weed seed, how much land will he sow to weeds? How much 

 will he lose, if his grain yields $15.00 worth of product per acre? 



2. If 10% of the crop in a field is weeds, and it requires 4 lbs. of 

 twine per acre, costing 15c. per pound to bind the crop, how much 

 does it cost per acre for twine to tie up the weeds? 



3. A farmer has 1,000 bus. of oats threshed; 4 lbs. in each bushel 

 is weed seed. What per cent of his crop is weeds? How many pounds 

 of weed seed has he? 



MORE ABOUT WEED SEEDS 



Pure Seed.— Sowing grass and clover seed that is not 

 pure is one of the most common ways of getting bad weeds 

 into the land. 



Grass seeds are so small that many weed seeds may be 

 mixed with them and not be noticed unless one is perfectly 

 familiar with both the grass seeds and the more common 

 weed seeds. 



Where there is a good stand of grass or clover there is 

 very little chance for weeds to grow. Where there is a 

 poor stand — perhaps the result of sowmg poor seed, or of 

 sowing on poor soil, or of winter killing — weeds are very 



