THE PENINSULA FARMERS' CLUB. 445 



Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen : — Two Imndred and fourteen 

 of our weeds have, according to the authorities, been introduced from foreign 

 countries, chiefly from Enghind. In 1672 a book entitled "New England 

 Earities" gave a list of twenty-two i^lants, which the author spoke of as hav- 

 ing sprung up since the English took possession. Among these the plantain, 

 or "White man's foot," is mentioned. In 1758 the toad flax, also then known 

 as the " Eausted weed," from the name of the gentleman who introdnced it 

 into Pennsylvania as a garden flower, had overrun the pastures of that prov- 

 ince, and had cansed many anathemas by the farmers against the unlucky in- 

 truder. In 1837 only 137 foreign weeds were enumerated in our catalogues. 



The common chickweed is said to have been first sown in South Carolina as 

 food for canary birds, and the presence of the Scotch thistle is accounted for 

 as due to the amor 'patrm of an enthusiast Highlander, who brought it 

 hither as an emblem of the pugnacity of his countrymen. Another record 

 says we have the thistle through the carelessness of a clergyman, who brought 

 hither a bed of thistle down, and on changing it for feathers spread it and the 

 seeds it contained broadcast over the country. 



The Canada thistle is probably the worst of all weeds, as being more tena- 

 cious of life and more troublesome among crops than any other. Fancy 

 yourselves binding sheaves about equally divided between grain and thistles. 

 I have frequently heard farmers aflirm that it could not be eradicated; that 

 when their farms became infested with them they must either cultivate their 

 crops among the thistles, or sell out and seek another location ; but it is cer- 

 tainly true, that a vegetable cannot live without a top, any better than any 

 animal can without a pair of lungs, as the leaves of the former correspond to 

 the lungs of the latter. Consequently, if the top be prevented from growing,, 

 the plant must die. 



I once knew a patch of thistles which were eradicated by the following 

 treatment, viz. : the patch was converted into a sheep pasture, and the sheep 

 were salted on the roots of the plants after removing the tops, salt being ap- 

 plied as often as the sheep required it, they ate the salt and considerable of the 

 root. 



If a farmer were asked. What is the use of weeds? he might make out quite 

 a list of their benefits, among which might be some of the following: They 

 shade tender jolants, and in a measure serve as a mulch to the ground. Some 

 weeds, by their oflTensive odor, drive away many insects. They may serve as a 

 green crop to be plowed into the soil and increase its organic matter. 



They make us stir the soil, and thus increase its fertility, and this is a strong 

 argument in their favor, as many farmers would cultivate their crops very 

 little if the weeds did not oblige them to do it ; indeed, they regulate the 

 amount of cultivation that most of our crops receive. Still, while thinking 

 out the excuses for weeds, he would see other and more urgent reasons why 

 they should not be allowed to grow. 



They occupy the soil to the disadvantage of crops. They exclude light and 

 heat from cultivated plants, which interferes with their growth. They take 

 up mineral and other matter from the soil, and hold them during the growing 

 season, thus depriving crops of their use. 



It is not necessary to argue the injury done by weeds. Every farmer is well 

 convinced that they should be destroyed, and the best means of accomplishing 

 this is of the greatest importance. In the first place we should protect our- 

 selves against their increase. This may be done by decomposing all manures- 



