AGRICULTURE FOR BEGINNERS 



destroying perennial weeds. They may be dug entirely 

 out and removed. Sometimes in small areas they may be 

 killed by crude sulphuric acid or may be starved by cover- 

 ing them with boards or a straw stack or in some other 

 convenient way. A method that is very effective is to 

 smother the weeds by a dense growth of some other plant, 

 for example, cowpeas or buckwheat. Cowpeas are to be 



preferred, since they 

 also enrich the soil by 

 the nitrogen that the 

 root tubercles gather. 

 Weeds do injury in 

 numerous ways: they 

 shade the crop, steal 

 its nourishment, and 

 waste its moisture. 

 Perhaps their only 

 service is to make lazy 

 people till their crops. 



EXERCISE 



You should learn to 

 know by name the twenty 

 worst weeds of your vicin- 

 ity and to recognize their 

 seeds. If there are any 



weeds you are not able to recognize, send a sample to your State 



Experiment Station. Make a collection, properly labeled, of weeds 



and weed seeds for your school. 



Procure from the Department of Agriculture Farmers' Bulletin 28 



on " Weeds and How to Kill Them." 



FIG. 60. CANADA THISTLE 



