Weeds

plants found troublesome in tillage. Some one has defined weeds as plants out of place. Some farmers insist that weeds be exterminated on their farms. They cut fencerow weeds and sow grass in their place, take pains that no weeds go to seed, and clean all their seed with care before planting. It is difficult to free a farm from weeds, and difficult to prevent seeds from blowing over from the premises of an untidy neighbor. Then, too, some weeds spring up and mature seed between the time of the last cultivating and the harvesting of the crop. In irrigated regions where every drop of moisture is precious, there is a particular reason for keeping the soil free from weeds. It is said that a crop of weeds draws three hundred times its own weight of moisture out of the ground and allows it to evaporate through its leaves. The irrigating farmer aims to secure clean tillage. We may name over a hundred common weeds but scarce a dozen are troublesome. If all the fertility now going to raise weeds were expended in producing useful crops, the world's productiveness would no doubt be doubled.