Eradication of Mustard. 151 



once allowed to ripen a crop of seeds will 

 give trouble for a long time thereafter. 



The habits of growth of most of the 

 weeds of this family are quite similar, so 

 that a method which is effective in eradi- 

 cating one of them is usually equally so in 

 keeping others in check. For that reason, 

 the methods which are generally applicable 

 will be first discussed, followed by brief 

 descriptions of wild mustard, false flax, 

 French weed and tumbling mustard, the 

 members of this group which are most fre- 

 quently troublesome. 



Among the methods which may be used 

 in eradicating weeds of the mustard family 

 may be mentioned sowing clean seed, har- 

 rowing spring grain, maintaining a regular 

 rotation, fall cultivation of stubble fields, 

 growing cultivated crops, bare fallow, hand 

 pulling and spraying. To obtain the best 

 results from these methods, it is sometimes 

 wise to use two or more of them together, 

 as, for example, following fall cultivation of 

 stubble with a cultivated crop in the spring. 



7. Sowing clean seed is one of the most 

 effective ways of keeping the weeds dis- 

 cussed in this chapter in check. As the 

 seeds of most of these plants are small, 



