CHAPTER XXXIX. 

 WEEDS IN CALIFORNIA. 



For fear that a book on gardening without a chapter on weeds 

 might prove too great a shock to horticultural propriety, this con- 

 cession is made to conventionality. The fact is that the California 

 gardener gives himself less concern about weeds than the distant 

 reader can perhaps realize. There are several reasons for this. 



First : It' is possible to get quite clean ground for winter gar- 

 dening by weed-killing cultivation before planting. This is one ad- 

 vantage of our long planting season. 



Second: Winter gardening is free from many weeds which 

 only grow in high temperatures. 



Third : Owing to the long spring season it is possible to clean 

 with hand tools or with plow and cultivators, the land which is to be 

 planted after frosts are over. 



Fourth : Summer growth of weeds is largely prevented by the 

 dry surface layer of the soil and those which do start are destroyed 

 by the persistent summer cultivation which is essential to the pres- 

 ervation of moisture for the crop. 



Fifth: Many of the worst weeds of humid climates cannot 

 survive our dry summer in uncultivated soil and are thus prevented 

 from becoming serious pests here because of their own natural 

 limitations. 



And yet we do have weeds, magnificent weeds, weeds which 

 reflect the growth-giving resources of our soil and climate quite as 

 strikingly as do our useful plants. Mustard, turnip and radish ex- 

 tend laterals for the birds of the air to rest upon. Smartweed grows 

 in some places too high for a man to look over; in other places 

 morning-glory, licorice, Bermuda and Johnson grasses have a grip 

 upon the soil which is almost impossible to loosen. Jimson, dog- 

 fennel and others, numerous beyond mention, are found in varying 

 amounts everywhere; but for the season stated above they do not 

 give the gardener such grievance against fate as their names might 

 suggest. On the other hand, Canada thistle and burdock are almost 

 unknown, while pusley and quack grass have in some places as- 

 sumed 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 vege- 

 table grower has to fight for his crop. Some winter-grown plants, 

 like onions and various roots are secured at the cost of much weed- 

 ing 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 



[313] 



