CHAPTER IX 



Plowing to Kill Weeds 



WEEDS, like the proverbial poor relations, are always 

 with us, and they always will be. The damage done 

 by weeds is roughly estimated at one billion dollars per 

 year. It can be easily diminished to a very small sum 

 if proper precautions are taken. One must study the 

 habits and characteristics of weeds for their destruction 

 in the same way that he must study the habits and 

 characteristics of the plant that he desires to grow. 

 Nature acts upon the principle of the survival of the 

 fittest. Therefore, the farmer must till his land to 

 bring about a condition that gives the crop he intends 

 to grow the advantage. He can hardly expect to do 

 this unless he understands the characteristics of both. 



It would require an immense volume to treat the 

 peculiarities and habits of all weeds and how they can 

 be eradicated, and if a volume were written, in six weeks 

 it would not be complete because Nature is constantly 

 bringing forth new varieties of weeds with considerable 

 less gusto than man produces new varieties of grains. 

 For this reason farmers must not always expect to find 

 the answers to their queries written in a book. Indeed, 

 they will seldom be found there because climatic con- 

 ditions have just as much effect upon weeds as they have 

 upon legitimate plants. Nature does not distinguish 

 between the two. The distinguishing is done by people 

 whose existence depends upon the food qualities of the 

 plants they desire to cultivate. 



