2C4 



Weeds. 



the season that these weeds could not have time to perfect their seeds. 

 It sometimes happens that whole fields become badly infested with 

 perennial weeds of the most troublesome character, like Canada thistles 

 and quack grass. The situation then is a serious one. The roots or 

 Bobterranean parts of the plant must in some way be taken out of the 

 soil or killed while remaining in it. The latter is sometimes thought 

 to bo the easier task. The mode of procedure is based on the fact that 

 the whole plant is nourished by material elaborated in the leaves. If 

 then the roots or subterranean parts can be continuously deprived of 

 their leaves or prevented from expanding them in the air and sunlight 

 they must in time starve to death. With a deep running plow the 

 weeds are completely buried out of sight. The roots attempt to send 

 new shoots to the surface but before these break through into the 

 light they are again turned under by the plow. The faithful repetition 

 of this process through the season, never once allowing a green leaf to 

 appear above ground, will put an end to the most persistent weed. 

 But it involves the loss of the use of the land for the season, besides a 

 heavy outlay of labor. To make it less expc msive, this treatment is 

 sometimes supplemented by enriching the soil and sowing it with 

 buckwheat in midsummer or with rye or other winter grain in early 

 autumn. After the weakening the weed-roots have received during 

 the first part of the season these crops are generally sufficient to over- 

 shadow and choke down any feeble weed-shoots that may succeed in 

 reaching the surface. The repeated plowings required by this process 

 and the decay of the weed-roots in the soil serve to put the land in ex- 

 fL-ll,-.,t condition for future crops and in a measure to reward the 

 owner for the extra labor bestowed. It may be stated that even this 

 crowning remedy for weed troubles has its limitations. It is scarcely 

 availably m heavy clay soils in excessively wet seasons like that of 

 1880. The land should be in tillable condition when the plowing is 

 to be done. In excessively wet seasons many a farmer whose land is 

 clayey and well stocked with weed-seeds, is, to a great extent, at the 

 IdSo* Weed8 ' aUd they are not slow i» taking advantage of the 



sof M ValU t le 8peCial methods of overcoming weeds may be in 

 pecia cases, probably one of the most efficient factors in the general 

 preveninon and destruction of weeds is to be found in the enrichment 

 of the soil and in good cultivation. The best farmers are those who 

 g ve special attention to these two points. In consequence, their fields 

 bear the largest crops and the fewest weeds. Thev supplv their soil 

 with an abundance of plant food, and give it a thorough and frequent 



