118 CALIFORNIA VEGETABLES. 



On the other hand, Canada thistle and burdock are almost 

 unknown, while plaintain, pusley, and quack grass have 

 in some places assumed quite an air of respectability as 

 forage plants. 



Naturally, weeds are worst in soils which are moist in 

 summer, such as the rich lowlands, and on such lands 

 the California vegetable grower has to fight for his crop. 

 Some winter-grown plants, like onions, are secured at the 

 cost of much weeding in some situations. Still it is true, 

 as remarked above, that weeds do not, taking the State 

 as a whole, call for such an amount of expensive effort 

 as they occasion in humid climates, and if the garden is 

 arranged, as it should be, for the free use of horse-power, 

 the burden of hand pulling and hoeing is reduced to a 

 minimum, and the exertion of a prolonged hand-to-hand 

 contest with weeds is seldom heard of in California. 



For these reasons, perhaps, California has no special 

 contributions to make to the general knowledge of weed 

 killing. So far, however, as her experience goes, it is 

 most strenuously in favor of destroying weeds as rob- 

 bers of moisture which must be saved for useful plants. 

 The California garden must be clean and the surface must 

 be frequently stirred, whether weeds appear or not. It 

 may be fortunate, then, that we are not altogether free 

 from weeds, for their invitation to slaughter accomplishes 

 far more for the garden than their own destruction. 



Recently weed killing by spraying with solutions of 

 sulphate of iron has been widely demonstrated to be suc- 

 cessful. Lawn intruders like dandelions and other broad- 

 leaved weeds can be killed by spraying with water in 

 which iron sulphate has been dissolved at the rate of two 

 pounds to the gallon, without permanent injury to the 

 grass, but most vegetables would also be destroyed by 

 this treatment. Garden walks can be kept clean of all 

 growth by sprinkling with this mixture: Dissolve one 

 pound of caustic soda in one gallon of water and in this 

 solution dissolve one and one-half pounds of white ar- 



