HARROWING, CULTIVATING 161 



or two weeks may intervene. At the end of this 

 time ground which was mellow and weedless when 

 planted is covered with a dense mat of small weeds. 

 Most of these can be worked out with a cultivator, 

 but some of them are already rooted so firmly 

 that the cultivator teeth do not uproot them. 

 From this beginning may be traced the growth of 

 many a weedy field. In recent years farmers and 

 gardeners have come to appreciate more fully the 

 advantages of harrowing the soil once or twice 

 before the crop is up. Weeders are also used; 

 in small home gardens an iron rake answers 

 very well. In this way the crop starts off clean 

 instead of foul. Where freedom from weeds is as 

 important as it is in growing onions the rows are 

 sometimes marked by sowing a few radish seeds 

 with the onions; these sprout long before the 

 onions and show where the scuffle hoe can go be- 

 fore the onions are up. 



When the crop is "laid by," or after the last 

 cultivation, is another dangerous time for the prop- 

 agation of weeds. The cultivation of many crops 

 is stopped in early or mid-summer, either because 

 the tops are so large that it would injure them to 

 crowd between the rows with a cultivator, as for 

 potatoes; or because it benefits 'the plant to grow 

 more slowly during the latter part of the season, as 

 for fruits. This period of relaxation on the 

 part of the farmer becomes the busy season of some 

 weeds. They crowd in beneath the crop and get 

 so firmly established that many of them are on hand 

 to bother the farmer after the next spring plowing. 

 If perennial weeds are allowed to make leaves at 

 any time during the summer or fall they are likely 

 to appear again next spring. There are two ways 

 of handling this difficulty : one is to keep the weeds 



