162 SOILS 



cut out with a hoe during the latter part of the 

 season; the other is to sow some catch crop at the 

 time of the last cultivation, to catch and use the 

 leaching plant food and water, to keep the soil 

 from washing and to crowd out weeds. Both are 

 worth being considered by the man who wishes 

 to keep his farm clean. 



Weed Collectors. There are other ways of 

 helping to keep down weeds besides cultivation. 

 One of the most important is to change the crop, 

 which is discussed fully under rotation of crops in 

 Chapter XI. Another is to keep fence rows, 

 corners, pastures and all waste places about the 

 farm clean. The fence row around the field is 

 often full of the very weeds that the farmer is 

 fighting by cultivation. Never allow bad weeds to 

 go to seed in these places; mow them frequently. 

 A much better plan, however, is to dispense with 

 the fence, and other weed-catching obstructions, as 

 much as possible. Fences and walls are unsightly 

 and they are a nuisance unless they serve the 

 necessary purpose of keeping out stock. 



There are many more fences in this country 

 than there is any need of, especially in the 

 older Eastern States. Riding over certain parts 

 of New England, one would think that the 

 farmers of a generation or two ago put in most 

 of their spare time building stone walls, so 

 checker-boarded is the country with them. Of 

 course the stones had to be picked off the land, but 

 surely there was a cheaper way of disposing of them 

 than by laying them up into walls five feet high 

 and three feet thick, around every two or three acres 

 of the farm ; to say nothing of the amount of land 

 thus covered and made useless. It is good to see 

 the present reaction from fence and wall building 



