158 SOILS 



their roots. These are in every inch of soil 

 that the corn roots have penetratea, disputing with 

 them for its richness. There are many figures on 

 the amount of plant foods removed from the soil 

 by various crops, but how about the amount of 

 plant food taken out of the soil by a big crop of 

 weeds in a potato field? It is true that the 

 weeds are plowed under eventually, so that the 

 plant food they use is not lost to the soil; but it is 

 lost to that particular crop, anyhow, and the crop 

 would have been bigger if the plants could have 

 had the use of all the surface richness that the 

 shallow-feeding weeds have gobbled up. I like 

 to see a farmer stop his cultivator, even on his way 

 to dinner, to pull up a particularly lusty and 

 arrogant weed. He knows it is robbing him. The 

 insidious drain that weeds make upon the most 

 available fertility of our fields is not appreciated 

 half as much as it ought to be. 



Weeds Steal Water. Weeds rob the plants of 

 water as well as of food. They use as much and 

 sometimes more water than cultivated plants in 

 proportion to their size and weight. It is in this 

 way that they inflict the greatest injury to crops. 

 The plant food they use is restored to the land, and 

 perhaps the crop of another year may use it, but 

 the water they use is lost; most of it passes off 

 into the air through their leaves. There are 

 figures on how much soil water is used in growing 

 a crop of corn or potatoes; how much water is 

 used in growing a big crop of weeds between the 

 corn or potatoes ? Jrerhaps not so much, but 

 certainly nearly as much. Where soil moisture is 

 as important as it is in most parts of the country the 



