FINANCIAL LOSS DUE TO WEEDS 7 



has been estimated by the United States Department of Agricul- 

 ture that the average yearly loss due to weeds in the crop and 

 meadow lands of the country is about a dollar an acre. 



The presence of weeds not only decreases the yield, but also 

 increases the expense of harvesting a crop. A field betangled with 

 Bindweed or overgrown with the strong woody stems of Kinghead 

 and Thistle enforces extra labor of draft-horses and extra wear of 

 farm machinery, even sometimes compelling the task to be done by 

 hand work the most expensive form of labor in every occupation. 

 Also, the labor and consequent cost of threshing and cleaning the 

 seed from a weedy and inferior crop is much greater than for a 

 heavier crop that is clean and thrifty. 



The market value of the crop is reduced. A report from the 

 Grain Inspection Department of the state of Minnesota shows the 

 average dockage on wheat for two years to be nineteen ounces 

 to the bushel. Minnesota produces yearly more than two hundred 

 million bushels of small grain. A dockage of but one pound to the 

 bushel means a loss of over two hundred million pounds, and if the 

 money value be calculated at no more than a cent a pound it is two 

 million dollars yearly ; and this loss is in addition to decrease of 

 yield and increased cost of harvest. 



Some weeds serve as host plants for injurious fungi ; and rust, 

 smut, and mildew may be transferred from them to the useful 

 crops. For example, the wild Barberry harbors the wheat-rust in 

 one of its stages, and the fungus that causes the "club-root disease" 

 of cabbage finds a host in several weeds of the Mustard Family. 

 Weeds serve too as nurseries and feeding grounds for injurious 

 insects. Wild relatives of the Potato, such as Ground Cherry and 

 Horse Nettle, have been known to harbor the Potato Stalk-borer 

 through the winter when all the ruined stems of the cultivated 

 crop had been carefully burned in order to hinder its appearance 

 another season. Weedy stubbles are often a breeding ground for 

 cut-worms, flea-beetles, and other insect plagues. 



Further, much serious loss is caused by a very bad class of 

 weeds, possessed of other and much worse qualities than their mere 

 presence where they are not wanted. Some, like the Death Camas 

 and the Water Hemlock, or Cowbane, are poisonous, and cattle 

 and sheep die from eating their young leaves or juicy tubers ; 



