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Show r ' j --- t . TO DESTROY ANNUAL WEEDS Thorough Bare Fallow May be Resorted Re-sorted to as Very Effectual Remedy Three Factors. When all other methods fail or are for some reason Impractical a thorough thor-ough bare fallow can be resorted to as a very effective remedy against annual an-nual weeds. To get good results from bare fallowing three principles must be kept in mind: 1st, ftll weeds that germinate must be destroyed before they produce seed ; 2d, all seeds in the soil should be brought where they will germinate; 3d, seeds will germinate only under the proper conditions of heat, air and moisture. To illustrate: Stubble fields may be disked Or plowed in the fall to cover weed seeds, thus bringing them in contact w?th the moist soil so they will germinate. Harrowing land in the spring warms up the soil and lets the air lfl, thus promoting germination. Thr, seeds near enough to the surface wil- germinate germ-inate while those deeper in the soil where it is cooler and where the air does not penertate freely, will lie dor-ment dor-ment or decay. Thus only a small portion por-tion of the weed seeds in the soil are brought into conditions favorable for germination at any one cultivation. When the weeds started by the spring harrowing are plowed under late in May or early in June (just before they are large enough to produce seed) the seeds that were too deep to grow are now turned on top, where, ll the soil is harrowed to retain thp moisture, they will germinate, thua ridding the soil of some more weed seeds. The usual practise of plowing in June and leaving the soil as plowed does not give the best results because the furrow slice dries out and ths seeds turned up cannot germinate. It is sometimes necessary in dr seasons to roll land as well as to harrow har-row it at this time of year to pack the furrow slice down to the subsoil sc-that sc-that the moisture necessary for germ, ination can move up from below b cappillary action. Always try to keep the soil moist and loose and plow be fore weeds can go to seed and summer sum-mer fallowing will give good results To get best results from fallowing it is usually necessary to plow twice during du-ring the season and harrow the Erst plowing two or three time's. Summer fallowing is not to be recommended except in rare instances. One year's crop and considerable labor is lost and- it is also very wasteful to plant food. It is wholly unnecessary tc summer fallow where rotation is prao Used. |