WEEDS NOT "NATURAL TO THE SOIL." 



It may not be amiss to refer to a widespread, although not always 

 acknowledged, misconception on the part of some of our cultivators of the 

 soil. Not a few people believe that weeds are what they term "Natural 

 to the soil," by which they mean that these plants can arise in some way 

 by spontaneous generation from the soil in places where they have not been 

 sown and where there are no seeds. This is absolutely erroneous. No 

 plant can ever begin to grow, except from a seed or from a piece of a similar 

 plant in the ground. The appearance of weeds on land which has been 

 cleaned, is due to the enormous number of seeds produced by some plants 

 which have become weeds, and to the numerous ways in which these can be 

 carried by the elements or otherwise transported to an adjoining piece of 

 land, where, if the conditions of growth are favourable they flourish. The 

 plants which have developed into noxious weeds, are those which have the 

 greatest powers of propagating themselves and which are of robust habit 

 and are better able to care for themselves than the plants we grow as crops, 

 most of which are of exotic origin and of improved strains, such as are not 

 able to hold their own unless cared for and helped by man. If plants could 

 come into existence by spontaneous generation, the various kinds would be 

 more evenly distributed; but, in the case of even our worst weeds, we know 

 in many instances when and by what means they have been introduced into 

 new districts, which would not be the case if they could spring up spontan- 

 eously from the soil. 



CLEAN SEED. 



Too much stress cannot be laid on the economy of using well cleaned 

 seed for all crops, even if what seems to be a very high price has to be paid 

 for it. It is undoubtedly the case that many weeds occur in crops, which 

 can only be there from the seed having been sown with the crop seed. Ex- 

 amples of these are Chess in fall wheat, and Darnel and Cockle in spring 

 wheat. The spread of weeds into new localities is almost entirely due to 

 their having been introduced with seed brought from another district. The 

 old idea that there was a great advantage in getting a change of seed from 

 another farm or district, or from a crop grown on different soil, has been 

 responsible for the bringing in of many troublesome weeds to farms where 

 previously they were unknown. Many Canadian farmers are appreciating 

 this, and more of them every year are adopting the wise plan of growing 

 their own seed grain, carefully selected to a desired type, upon a plot of 

 land specially prepared and kept clean for the purpose. The value of such 

 work and the willingness on the part of farmers to pay a reasonable price, 

 although apparently a high one, for good seed, clean, true to variety and 

 type, and well matured, have given rise to that most useful organization, the 

 Canadian Seed Growers' Association. The institution of such a plan of 

 securing high class seed will affect the condition of the whole of a man's 

 farm; for he will have an eloquent object lesson of what large yields may 

 be produced by careful work on a small area, and also how much larger 

 monetary returns may be secured in his whole crop by adopting similar 

 measures. This has actually been the case with members of the Seed 

 Growers' Association. 



THE SEEDS OF WEEDS. 



As so many weeds are introduced into new localities by their seeds being 

 sown mixed with crop seeds, it is of the utmost importance that those who 

 purchase seed from dealers should know how to recognize the seeds of the 

 various kinds of these agricultural pests. Every farmer should know by 



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