LEAVES I I g 



light. Garden and field plants are sometimes planted 

 so thick that they crowd each other and shut the 

 light and air from each other, or weeds are allowed 

 to grow and do the same thing, the result being 

 that the leaves cannot do good work and the plant 

 becomes weak and sickly. Weeds are destroyed by 

 pulling them up and exposing their roots to the sun. 

 This should be done before the weeds blossom, to 

 prevent them from producing fresh seeds for a new 

 crop of weeds. Some weeds have fleshy roots for 

 example, dock, thistle in which food is stored ; 

 these roots go deep in the ground, and when the 

 upper part of the plant is cut or broken off the 

 root sends up new shoots to take the place of the 

 old. Some have underground stems in which food 

 is stored for the same purpose. The surest way 

 to get rid of such weeds, in fact, of all weeds, is 

 to prevent their leaves from growing and making 

 starch and digesting food for them. This is accom- 

 plished by constantly cutting off the young shoots 

 as soon as they appear above the soil, or by growing 

 some crop that will smother them. The constant 

 effort to make new growth will soon exhaust the 

 supply of stored food and the weed will die. 



