POOR CROPS AND HOW TO GET BETTER ONES 129 



the crop. Or, weeds may grow after the crop is taken 

 off. (See the next chapter.) They may go to seed in 

 fall or winter, and stock the ground so heavily that the 

 weed seeds can sprout ahead of the crop and choke it. 

 This is particularly true of the "little summer weeds " 

 that some people think are not worth considering. In 

 reality they usually seed more abundantly than the 

 spring weeds. 



Lack of drainage. While a sufficiency of water 

 during the growing season is of the first importance, too 

 much of it is often as bad as too little. Crop roots 

 cannot do their work in water-soaked soils. Some 

 plants grow in water, and many in swamps. But few 

 crop plants can flourish with so much water in the soil, 

 though low-lying lands are usually the richest in plant 

 food and most desirable. 



Too much water is best removed by draining; this 

 is sometimes done by open ditches, and these, run so as 

 to prevent the washing down of the soil by the run-off 

 from rain, should be in all fields. But in level and 

 low-lying land, water may stand in the soil for weeks 

 in spring, keeping the land cold and preventing growth 

 and cultivation. Ditches then carry off the water too 

 slowly, and they are also in the way of cultivation. 



By far the best way to remove the water is to lay 

 underdrains, that is, pipes of burnt clay made in short 

 lengths, and laid end to end at the bottom of ditches, 

 which can then be filled up. 



