THE WEEDS OF THE EARTH 



absorbing the moisture which belongs by 

 right to the crop. Not only do the weeds 

 take up useful space, throw the crop into the 

 shade and prevent the access of the sun, but 

 the necessary heat is kept out and the requisite 

 amount of air is withheld. When the weeds 

 are analyzed they frequently show, as has been 

 demonstrated by Prof. John Percival, of the 

 Agricultural College of Wye, England, high 

 percentages of potash and phosphates. Again, 

 in spite of the utmost care, weeds are often 

 harvested with the seeds of the crop proper, 

 reducing largely the market value of the crop, 

 and injuring, in the case of wheat, the quality 

 of the flour made, unless the utmost care is 

 exercised in cleaning before milling. The stu- 

 dent learns of all this ; of parasitic weeds that 

 grow upon reputable plants and sap their life ; 

 that weeds harbor and give food to insect 

 pests ; that many weeds are poisonous to stock 

 and that others not poisonous yet give disa- 

 greeable tastes and odors to the milk of the 

 cattle who feed upon them. Nature is lavish 

 in her gifts to the weeds. She gives the most 

 of them marvelous fecundity, so that a single 

 seed will produce as many as three hundred 



111 



