order to obtain tbebest possible returns, not only are good land and 
favourable seasons necessary, but the crops must also be cultivated 
in a rational manner. The plants that form a crop require tlve 
whole of their space, if properly apportioned to them, for their free 
development, and they cannot be expected to thrive to the fullest 
degree when they have competitors struggling with them for a share 
of the soil. 
Annual crops, the cereals, for instance, feel this competition very 
much, and frequently from this cause alone turn out complete or 
partial failures. When wheat or other cereals are sown in land 
that is foul with wheat germs, their growth often commences simul- 
taneously, and the crop plants are either smothered by the useless 
vegetation or suffer seriously in their struggle for existence. Even 
if by chance the crops are enabled to make a fair amount of head- 
way, they are often injured afterwards by an undergrowth of 
weeds, which absorb a large amount of nutriment and moisture. 
On the other hand, in thoroughly clean land, cereal and other crops 
are able to get a fair start ar.d make good headway without the 
interference of alien plants. 
Crops have not only a better chance of coming to perfection in 
clean land, but they will also come to maturity earlier, as a rule. 
This is an advantage that all farmers must appreciate, but es- 
pecially so in this part of the world, where cereal crops often suffer 
from the effects of drv weather just before they reach maturity. 
In many cases crops would not suffer materially from the hot 
weather if their growth were a little more advanced before it set in. 
^ Besides, the earlier the crops are the less liable are they to the at- 
tacks of those fungoid and insect pests which are too often trouble- 
some to our farmers. 
To Eradicate IVeeds . — Weeds may be divided into two classes, 
and they require somewhat different treatment to eradicate. The 
annual kinds, which are the most numerous, can generally be des- 
troyed or kept under without much difficulty by allowing an oc- 
casional fallow- and ploughing them in before they perfect their 
seeds. When the annual kinds of weeds have been plentiful in a 
grain or other crop, it will be advisable to take steps for their 
eradication as soon as the harvest is over. They will generally 
start with the advent of the first rain, and the operation of germina- 
tion will be facilitated by a slight scarifying of the surface soil 
previously. 
Weeds that are perennial in their habit are, however, somewhat 
more difficult to deal with ; but labour and patience will generally 
keep them under. In order to free land from this kind of vegeta- 
tion, it must be left uncropped for a time, and the surface frequent- 
ly broken with the plough or scarifier. When land gets foul with 
these kind of weeds, it is better to throw it out of crop for a season 
or two than to persist in cultivation that will necessarily give but 
poor and unsatisfactory returns. The excuse with many for sloven- 
liness in cultivation is the want of time to do things properly, and 
