-■I THE FARMERS HANDBOOK. 



SECTION XIII. 



Weeds on the Farm/ 



Immediately a plant gets out of control it becomes a weed, even though 

 under different circumstances it may be an harmless or even a useful species. 

 The uncertainty of the conditions that may develop a plant of comparatively 

 harmless characteristics or occasional occurrence into a pest that it is almost 

 impossible to control; makes it necessary for the farmer to be in a position to 

 recognise the more common of those species of plants usually termed weeds. 



Not only is this necessary, but it is also important for him to have a 

 knowledge in a general way of the means by which his property may become 

 infested, and in the event of it becoming so, of the most likely methods of 

 effecting extermination or control. 



In this country of wide, imperfectly occupied areas, with special liability 

 to attack by new weeds from the four quarters of the world, a moral 

 obligation attaches to every citizen lo do what he can to check the weed 

 menace, and he should bear in mind that the expenditure of a shilling in 

 tackling a weed when first observed, may perhaps be more efficacious than 

 one hundred pounds the following year. Every plant that makes its 

 appearance in a district should be viewed with suspicion, and unless the 

 finder knows what it is, he should pull up one by the roots and address 

 it to The Director, Botanic Gardens, Sydney. Whether the weed be 

 harmless or not, it is desirable that the local Town Clerk or Shire Clerk be 

 informed, in order that the proper municipal or shire officer may keep an eye 

 on the intruder, and, if necessary, approach the local body with the view of 

 suitable action being taken under the authority of the Local Government 

 Department. 



The Harmful Effects of Weeds. 



As a pest of farm crops it may be briefly stated that weeds rob the crop 

 of soil moisture and of plant-food, harbour insect pests and diseases, and 

 when harvested with the crop detract from its market value. 



From a stock-raising aspect, the poisonous properties of certain species r 

 the effect of the seeds of other sorts on the mouths and even the skins and 

 wool of animals, and the indigestible nature of the foliage of yet other 

 species, make their control, and, if possible, theii extermination, a necessary 

 part of farm practice. 



How Weeds are Distributed. 



Many species of weeds seem to be fitted with devices specially designed to 

 enable the distribution and reproduction of the type in the face of much 

 opposition. Some (such as the thistles) have parachute arrangements on the 

 seeds, others hairs, others again wing-like structures, all of which enable the 

 seed to be distributed over a very large area by the wind. Some seeds are 

 so small that they are carried by the wind without any of these helps, and 

 yet others have seeds that are rolled along the ground for considerable 

 distances by the wind. 



Floods, adhesion to the coats and feet of animals, manure, unclean seed, 

 and birds, are some of the many means by which seeds of weeds can be taken 

 from an infested to a clean area. 



* Condensed from various sources, especially ' ; The Weeds of New S uth Wales,'' 

 by J. H. Maiden, I.S.O., F.R.S., F.LS., Government Botanist, .Sydney, from which, 

 also are taken the illustrations in this section. 



