Teacher's Leaflet, 



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Winter rosette of mullein 



A weed is a plant grow- 

 ing where we wish some- 

 thing else to grow, and a 

 plant may, therefore, be a 

 weed in some locations and 

 not in others. The mullein 

 is grown in gardens in Eng- 

 land as the American velvet 

 plant. Our grandmothers 

 called "butter and eggs" 

 a pretty posy, and planted 

 it in their gardens, where- 

 from it escaped and now is 

 a bad weed wherever it 

 grows. A weed may crowd 

 out our cultivated plants 

 by stealing the moisture and nourishment in the soil which they should 

 have, or it may shade them out by putting forth broad leaves and 

 shutting off their sunhght. When harvested with a crop it may 

 be unpalatable to the stock which feed upon it, or in some cases, as in 

 the wild parsnip, even be poisonous. 



Each weed has its own way of winning in the struggle with our crops, 

 and it behooves us to find that way as soon as possible in order to cir- 

 cumvent it. This we can do only by a careful study of the life history 

 of each species. To do this we must know whether it is an annual, 

 surviving the winter only in its seeds; or a biennial, storing in fleshy 

 root or broad green leafy rosette the food drawn from the soil and air 

 during the first season to perfect its fruitage in the second year; or a 

 perennial, surviving and springing up to spread its kind and pester us 

 year after year, unless we can destroy it "root and branch." Purslane 

 is an example of the first class, burdock and mullein of the second, and 

 the field sorrel and Canada thistle of the third. According to their nature 

 we must use different means of extermination, striving to prevent the 

 annuals and biennials from forming any seed whatever; and where 

 perennials have made themselves a pest, we should put in a "hoed 

 crop," requiring such constant and thorough tillage that the weed roots 

 will be deprived of all starchy food manufactured by green leaves and 

 thus starve out. Especially, the farmer and gardener should know 

 how the weeds look when they are young, for seedlings of all kinds are 

 delicate and easy to kill before their roots are well established. 



