Well-planned rotation helps to maintain the supply of decayed stuff in the soil, on which the plants feed. It also improves the soil’s texture. Moreover, it not only lessens the necessity for much chemical fertilizer, but it puts those fertilizers to better use. Where live stock is kept, crops should be raised to feed the stock to make manure. Rotation is, also, a plan for cleaning the soil. Different weeds and insects grow after different crops and the succession or “rotation” as we call it, prevents any kind getting a secure hold. It enables the farmer to meet the demands of the market, by continuous crops. CHAPTER IX. WEEDS. It is not enough to know what to grow, you must also know what not to grow for profit, in a garden patch; and first in this class come weeds. Study them until you know even their seeds. You cannot expect to get rid of weeds until you know the nature of them and the best way to attack them, so that they may be readily destroyed. If you run across any common ones that you cannot place, send sample to the Department of Agriculture. They will tell you all about them. Get from the Department Farmer’s Bulletin 28 on “Weeds and How to Kill Them.” All this will pay. One of the most common of the weeds of the north is the pigweed. This is the growth of one year and can be destroyed by simply preventing it from running to seed. A year or two will clear out even the most obstinate growth of pigweed. Mustard, plantain, chess, dodder, cockle, crab-grass and Jimsonweed are the most disagreeable of the common weeds. The best time to kill them is when they are small; therefore, you should keep the ground constantly stirred up that the young weeds may not have a chance to get a firm hold of the soil. If they do get a start on you, don’t let them ripen. Cut them down before they run to seed at all. Never let up in your war upon them. That advice holds good for all weeds, whether they be annuals, which die every year, biennials that last for two years, or perennials that can stand the winters. The biennials commonly found are wild carrot, thistle, moth mullein, wild parsnip and burdock. These are best destroyed by cutting the roots below the leaves with a grubbing hoe or spud. Be sure they are cut low enough, else they will branch out and make new seeds.