Show WEEDS ON DRY FARMS abundance of noxious intruders throughout west harmful planta are usually more hardy than cultivated ones and more successful in struggle for water and food when a dry farm la first taken up or purchased every effort Is made to get it into a good state of cultivation just as soon as possible all the farmers energies are used in getting it cleared and broken and started to raising crops little thought Is given to the permanent welfare of the field in the rush to start the land producing this often leads to slipshod methods of farming which are likely to bo continued later even after the breaking stage Is over one of the disastrous results ot these methods Is the growth of weeds the presence of which in any large quantity makes dry farming sure to fall in passing over the great dry farming areas of the entire west one cannot help but be impressed by the abundance of these noxious intruders they are found everywhere true there are farms here and there that are free from weeds but the great majority of the fields are literally infested around the borders and on pieces as well as in tn crops themselves the weedy borders a perennial source of seed to keep the entire farm foul it Is very much easier to get rid of the few weeds next to the fence before they go to seed than to have to combat during the next the millions of young plants resulting from these prolific mothers the old saying that a stitch in time saves nine might be paraphrased to read A weed in time saves a thou sand it Is absolutely useless to pretend to summer fallow it a crop of weeds Is allowed to grow the object of cropping only during alternate years la to allow the moisture of two seasons to be used in producing a single crop it weeds grow during the year when there is no crop the moisture la used up just na completely as it a crop of wheat were raised so even it these weeds are not allowed to go to seed they do harm by robbing tha eoll of its much needed moisture even more serious than the above Is the growth of weeds in the crop it self they are usually more hardy than the cultivated plants and are more successful in the competition for water and plant food the field is not only reduced but the quality of the crop Is impaired since abe weeds interfere with harvesting and their seeds lower the market value of grain there are a number of weeds that are especially troublesome on the dry farm and these should be carefully guarded against in order not to allow them to get a start among the worst of these are the russian thistle and the tumbling mustard doth of these produce thousands of seeds to each plant and these seeds may be scattered over a large area due to the fact that when the plants are ripe they go tumbling over the fields with the wind scattering their seeds all along the way A yellow row of blos coming mustard a halt mile long was once been stretching across a field of grain marking the path of a single plant on its journey of seed dispersion the next year the field was a solid mustard patch in regions infested by russian whistles thistles es it only takes a year or two of neglect for them to get completa control there la no single thing to do to get rid of all weeds each kind has its own weak point where it can be best attacked the general rule however Is to kill all weeds when they are young better just after they have germinated |