Thirdly, on the summer-fallowed ground weeds start vigorously in the
spring and draw upon the soil-moisture, if allowed to grow, fully as
heavily as a crop of wheat or corn. The dry-farmer must not allow a
weed upon his land. Cultivation must he so continuous as to make
weeds an impossibility. The belief that the elements added to the
soil by weeds offset the loss of soil-moisture is wholly erroneous.
The growth of weeds on a fallow dry-farm is more dangerous than the
packed uncared-for topsoil. Many implements have been devised for
the easy killing of weeds, but none appear to be better than the
plow and the disk which are found on every farm. (See Chapter XV.)
When crops are growing on the land, thorough summer cultivation is
somewhat more difficult, but must be practiced for the greatest
certainty of crop yields. Potatoes, corn, and similar crops may be
cultivated with comparative ease, by the use of ordinary
cultivators. With wheat and the other small grains, generally, the
damage done to the crop by harrowing late in the season is too
great, and reliance is therefore placed on the shading power of the
plants to prevent undue evaporation.
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