CHAPTER XIII 



Weeds 



A Weed is a plant that is not wanted. The methods of weed- 

 control depend largely on the character of soil, system of farming 

 practiced in the neighborhood, and, particularly, on the type of weed 

 concerned, whether annual, biennial, or perennial. The better the 

 crop-scheme, the less will be the difficulty from bad weeds. The prime 

 remedy, therefore, is to improve the general farm plan and practice, 

 and to use only clean seed. Special means and methods may be dis- 

 cussed, however; and these discussions are drawn from Farmers' 

 Bulletins of the United States Department of Agriculture, from bul- 

 letins of the Rhode Island, Ohio, and North Dakota Stations, 

 Cyclopedia of American Agriculture, and other sources. 



General Practices 



For annual weeds, which reproduce from seed only, the root and 

 branch dying each year, the essentials for eradication are the use of 

 clean seed, the killing of plants before they ripen seeds, and the preven- 

 tion of new infestation by such means as manure from stables where 

 weed forage has been used. For permanent pastures, lawns, and 

 roadsides the prevention of seed production is often the most practi- 

 cable method, and it is sufficient if persistently followed. In culti- 

 vated fields the land thus seeded may first be burned over to destroy 

 as many as possible of the seeds on the surface. It may then be plowed 

 shallow, so as not to bury the remaining seeds too deeply. The succeed- 

 ing cultivation, not deeper than the plowing, will induce the germina- 

 tion of seeds in this layer of soil and kill the seedlings as they appear. 

 The land may then be plowed deeper, and the tillage repeated until 

 the weed seeds are cleared out to as great a depth as the plow ever 

 reaches. Below that depth, eight to ten inches, very few weed seeds 

 can germinate and push a shoot to the surface. Barren summer- 



221 



