Weeds. 



259 



very slender creeping and branching root-stocks. Though almost 

 thread like, they grow rapidly and spread extensively, throwing up 

 numerous leaf-bearing shoots to the surface and making a veritable 

 pest of the plant in soils favorable to its growth. Owing to the slen- 

 der character of the root-stocks they are easily broken in pieces in 

 efforts to eradicate them. Each piece if left in the ground will 

 originate a new plant. It is decidedly troublesome. 



Even those annual plants that are most troublesome usually have a 

 peculiar root development by which they cling to the soil most tena- 

 ciously. They are pulled out only with a great expenditure of strength 

 and often of patience, for unless the soil is very mellow or softened by 

 an abundance of rain, the stem is far more likely to break and leave 

 the roots in the ground than it is to draw them out of it. Of course 

 in such cases it is far better to destroy the weeds when young than it 

 is to wait till they have gained a firm foothold in the soil. 



Having now considered the source of weeds, the methods by which 

 they find their way into gardens and fields, and some of the characters 

 of the most troublesome kinds, let us turn our attention to the methods 

 of opposing them. These may be classed as preventive and destructive. 

 In this as in other cases, an "ounce of prevention is worth a pound of 

 cure." It will be for the advantage of the farmer to be watchful 

 against the introduction of weeds or of weed-seeds into his land. If 

 he can keep weed-seeds out of his soil his farm will be free from weeds 

 and he, from the necessity of destroying them. Inasmuch as weed- 

 seeds are often introduced into fields by sowing impure seed, it is of 

 the utmost importance that grass, grain and clover seed should be 

 carefully examined before sowing and if found to be foul with weed- 

 seeds it should either be cleansed or returned to the dealer from whom 

 it was purchased. It would seem that it might be profitable for some 

 wholesale seed dealer to make a special effort to establish a reputation 

 for selling only clean seed. He should employ an expert, whose busi- 

 ness it should be to examine closely every lot of seed purchased, and 

 be should sell none that could not be guaranteed free from weed-seeds. 

 He might do much toward stimulating seed growers to keep their seed 

 clean, by offering a slight advance over market prices for all lots of 

 seed purchased that should be found pure and clean. It would seem 

 tn at as soon as it was generally known that he was selling only pure 

 seed he would immediately take precedence over his less careful com- 

 petitors, both in the amount of his sales and in the prices he could 

 command for his commodities. 



