RULES FOR EXTERMINATING WEEDS. 23 



Self binders and grain drills should also be cleaned before using, 

 as they are apt to cany many weed seeds. Harrows and cultiva- 

 tors should be examined to see that no bits of the underground 

 stems of perennial weeds are attached to them. The man with a 

 clean farm will look after these things, for where comparative 

 cleanliness has been once secured, l ' an ounce of prevention is worth 

 a pound of cure. ' ' 



9. USE SHEEP AS AN AID IN WEED FIGHTING. There is no more 

 efficient help in keeping down the weeds on a farm than a flock 

 of sheep. There are few pasture weeds that they will not keep 

 grazed down if they can get at them when they are young and on 

 a freshly cut stubble field, where other forage is scarce, they will 

 destroy young ragweeds and foxtail by thousands. If turned into 

 a timothy meadow containing white-top for a few days before the 

 hay is cut they will eat out the weed and do little damage to the 

 hay. In a corn-field in early autumn they will destroy many weeds 

 without injury to the ears. Where annual or biennial weeds are 

 very plentiful on a tract of land there is no more effective way 

 of fighting them than by growing two or three crops, such as rye 

 and millet or rape in a single season and grazing them off with 

 sheep. It will be necessary to have the tract divided into plots 

 so that there may be alternation in grazing and growing. Remem- 

 ber the old saying "all flesh is grass" and modify it to read "some 

 flesh is weeds," by feeding the sheep upon them. 



10. INCREASE THE FERTILIZATION OR DRAINAGE. Many weeds 

 are soil indicators, their presence being evidence that the soil is 

 lacking in fertility or is too wet. Such weeds are most easily con- 

 trolled by changing the conditions. Thus cinquefoil, mullen and 

 field sorrel growing together on the slope of some old field proves 

 conclusively that the soil is half barren and should be improved by 

 lime and fertilizer. Wet places should be drained to get rid of 

 such weeds as sedges, spearmint and tickseeds. Proper fertiliza- 

 tion and the raising of good crops will in many instances cause the 

 weeds to give way wholly to field crops, as the spread of weeds is 

 usually much more rapid on half barren lands than on rich ones. 

 Soiling crops, or those such as rape, peas, soy beans, etc., which are 

 cut green for feed and partly plowed under, not only aid in fertiliz- 

 ing the land but smother out many weeds. In Indiana in the past 

 too much land has been devoted solely to the raising of cereals and 

 too little to more diversified and partly fertilizing crops. Since the 

 cereals are almost always wholly removed, from the land the re- 



