314 CALIFORNIA VEGETABLES 



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 contribu- 

 tions to make to general knowledge of weed killing. So far, how- 

 ever, as her experience goes it is most strenuously in favor of de- 

 stroying weeds as robbers of moisture which must be saved for use- 

 ful 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. 



