36S 



Tlic Country Gcntkmaiis Magazine 



their young leaves are not more than from 

 2 to 3 inches in length, and before their roots 

 have passed from the appearance of slender 

 whitish threads to that of thick brownish 

 cord. This is a fact worthy of the attention 

 of all whose gardens are situated near dan- 

 delion covered railway banks or pastures, 

 and where, when the weather is favourable, 

 they may expect the appearance of the 

 }-oung seedlings within a fortnight after ob- 

 serving the dandelion seeds wafted in downy 

 clouds within their precincts. 



We canhot here avoid noticing a ^-ery re- 

 prehensible, but common piece of garden 

 mismanagement — namely, that of allowing the 

 weeds to grow and seed almost unrestrictedly 

 from towards the end of summer onward 

 throughout the autumn months, more especially 

 among the culinary crops. How frequently 

 do we see the spring and summer crops all 

 sown or planted, and properly cared for, every 

 weed, it may be, extirpated, up till the com- 

 mencement of the small fruit season, after 

 which, weed destroying receives little or almost 

 no further attention, on the plea that all 

 hands are now needed for fruit-gathering, grape- 

 thinning, summer-training, and keeping the 

 flower-beds as well as other essential parts 

 clean and trim. Most short-sighted policy 

 this, the extravagance of which becomes 

 evident when it is considered that the num- 

 ber of seeds shed by these neglected weeds 

 are almost beyond comprehension, even 

 allowing that a moderate per-centage of them 

 are devoured by birds or otherwise destroyed, 

 seeing that the growth of the remainder will 

 entail an after exxess of labour far beyond 

 what, if taken in time, was requisite to have 

 kept them under proper control. To illus- 

 trate this more fully, it is only requisite to 

 look at the quantities of seeds that some of 

 our most troublesome weeds are capable of 

 producing, even when only grown to mode- 



rate sizes. Thus, a plant of shepherd's purse, 

 having no more than a 9-inch long cen- 

 tral ; and two 6-inch long side seed-bearing 

 branches, will carry about 125 pods, with, 

 on an average, twenty seeds in each, or in all 

 2 5 00 seeds. A plant of annual meadow grass, 

 with only six panicles, and thirty six-seeded 

 spikelets on each, will have upwards of 1000 

 seeds upon it ; while its earlier and its later 

 succession stems may produce twice that 

 number. A plant of the common groundsel, 

 from 10 to 12 inches high, contains about 

 sixty florets, capable of producing about sixty 

 seeds in each, making in all 3600. A chick- 

 weed of sufficient size to cover a square foot 

 may be estimated to produce, from first to 

 last, about 400 capsules, ha\ing eight 

 seeds in each, or in all, 3200 seeds. In 

 a single head of dandelion the average 

 number of mature seeds may be stated at 

 fully 300, and as an ordinary sized plant con- 

 tains six heads, its produce will be nearly 

 2000 seeds. And for the common annual 

 sow-thisde, 300 flowers may be estimated as 

 the produce of a good but not extraordinary 

 sized plant ; each of which will contain, on 

 an average, fully 160 seeds capable of vege- 

 tating, so that its total produce may be set 

 down at the almost incredible number of 

 about 50,000. Of these six very common 

 weeds, the first four are capable of producing 

 several generations of plants in one year, so 

 that the actual number of seeds emanating 

 within that time from a single plant of either 

 sort, will be several times the number above 

 stated, more especially if that plant is an 

 autumn seedling which may have withstood 

 the winter, or even one of early spring 

 growth. The sow-thistle, on the other hand, 

 may be included among once-in-the-year 

 seeding annuals ; and it is well for cultivators 

 that the crops of this and other enormous 

 seeders are not oftener repeated. 



