WEEDS, AND THE MANAGEMENT OF THEM 



111 



species and then laboriously to prevent them from seeding or to spud them out at a certain season of 



the year, or to practice other very special methods. The fundamental thing is to apprehend the fact 



that certain weeds follow 



certain crops and certain N"?;:*' "-«^(Sl&„-^ 



methods of farming. -»s®<^. ..'^-^ 



Crop management, there- 

 fore, necessarily involves 

 weed management. A weed- 

 infested farm is not merely 

 a shiftless farm in the sense 

 of being untidy, but it is a 

 poorly farmed farm. Some 

 of the fundamental means of 

 preventing weeds are: good 

 rotation courses; clean till- 

 age ; cleaning up of waste 

 places in which weeds breed; 

 care in the choice of clean 

 seed ; care to see that the 

 manure does not carry seeds; 

 alertness to recognize new 



weeds when they begin to ^ .^J / J^- Kg. 137. stick-tight 



invade the neighborhood. , ^^^1 I '^^^^^^^^^s. "^ beggar-tick 



This means that the farmer I W^ \1 II ,^<:£.'^^^%. (Widens troniosa). 



should endeavor to deter- 



mine why he is possessed of certain weeds : 

 this discovered, he can then proceed to treat 

 the question rationally. 



There are, of course, special methods 

 for certain weeds and cer- 

 tain conditions. Summer- 

 fallowing is a means of 

 cleaning fields of weeds, but 

 it is usually necessary for 

 this purpose only in new 

 lands or those that have 

 been improperly handled. 

 Pasturing with sheep is an- 

 other special method. Spray- 

 ing with poisons will despatch some 

 kinds of weeds. Mowing at certain times 

 of the year will dispense with others. 

 Burning the fields is often useful. In 

 meadows and lawns, it is often possible 

 to eliminate weeds by fertilizing and 

 re-seeding the invaded parts, for usually 

 the weeds do not run out the grass, but 

 the weeds invade because the sod is poor. 

 In the contest with weeds, the farmer should dis- 

 tinguish the kinds as to duration. It is obviously 

 one problem to deal with perennials and another 

 problem to deal with annuals. In the annuals, it is 

 necessary only to prevent seeding, so far as dissemi- 

 nation or persistence is concerned. In perennials, it 



Rg. 136. Ragweed 



(Ambrosia artemiaice- 



folia). 



