269 



AEE WEEDS OUR FRIENDS OR ENEMIES ? 



Some fifteen or sixteen years ago I went 

 to work in a garden tliat had been aban- 

 doned to weeds for fonr years, in conse- 

 quence of the house and premises remain- 

 ing for that time untenanted. The man 

 wiio had formerly had the management of 

 this garden lefc word, through the medium 

 of the next door neighbour, and for the 

 edification of his successor, that " seeds 

 were thrown away on that 'ere ground; 

 that peas and beans never bore anything ; 

 that cabbages and broccoli all clubbed off ; 

 and that taters, carrots, parsneps and them 

 things came to nothing." Tnis was by 

 no means encouraging, but the neigh- 

 bour assured me it was a fact. However, 

 a garden is a garden all the world over, 

 and I was set to work under the super- 

 vision of one who was employed elsewhere 

 the greater part of his time. I being too 

 young at the time to be trusted without a 

 guide, my duties were to dig, to plant, 

 and to sow, and supply the family with 

 vegetables. It was early in January when 

 I began operations, which consisted in 

 pruning, burning, manuring, and trench- 

 ing. Tliese occupied the first month ; in 

 the second some early peas, beans, etc. 

 ■were got in ; in the third month there 

 was a general cropping. As the seeds 

 came up, so came up weeds in vast quan- 

 tities ; but the hitter were chopped up, 

 greatly to the benefit of the young crops, 

 which were improved by the ground being 

 stirred between. Now I happen to think 

 that weeds do us considerable service in 

 making their appearance among young 

 crops where they are not wanted ; they 

 tell us, in unraistakeable terms, that tlie 

 hoe must be set to work ; and this not only 

 destroys the weeds, but loosens the sur- 

 face of the soil, and refreshes the plants, 

 admitting air and moisture freely to the 

 roots. If weeds did not appear this im- 

 portant operation might in a great measure 

 be neglected. 



But to proceed. The first crops gathered 

 were lettuces and radishes ; they were fine, 

 but excited no comment, but when peas 

 and beans came in they were remarkably 

 fine and good, and all through the season 

 it was noticed by all who saw them (par- 

 ticularly the next door neighbour) what 

 excellent crops were produced on the same 

 ground that a few years ago would produce 

 comparatively nothing. Potatoes yielded 

 most extraordinarily, other root crops were 

 fine in proportion. Legumes bore abun- 

 dantly, and were well flavoured, while not 

 a trace of club was discernable amongst 



the various Brassicse. Some old straw- 

 berry-bods that had been smothered with 

 weeds were cleared, and bore amazingly. 

 The old asparagus -beds were served the 

 same, and the heads came up stout and 

 good. Everything was more than satis- 

 factory, and this was the case for several 

 years that I remained there. If an idea 

 entered ray young head at the time that 

 any of these results were due to my par- 

 ticular style of gardening, it has been 

 crushed and dissipated long since, for I 

 have found that other gardens wherein 

 weeds have not had a montti's, much less 

 a year's grace for half a century or so, 

 will not or cannot produce such crops, and 

 thii in spite of manure, ti'enching, and 

 careful rotation. I have been in kitchen 

 gardens where weeds are never suffered 

 to grow three inches high, and where the 

 most approved operations are adopted, and 

 where manure is supplied in suitable quan- 

 tities, and yet a good cabbage or cauli- 

 fiower is the exception, and diseased roots 

 the rule ; where wireworm, aphis, and 

 caterpillars predominate, and where a really 

 profitable crop is almost unknown ; and 

 yet in an adjacent market garden, whicli 

 a few years ago was a meadow, vegetables 

 acquire that firm stocky habit that indi- 

 cates the soil is in good heart, although 

 it receives very little manure ; and often 

 large patches are covered with weeds, 

 which are ploughed in, and again profit- 

 able crops are obtained. These are positive 

 facts, and by putting that and that to- 

 gether it is possible to arrive at some con- 

 clusions which may be useful to those who 

 year after year are making futile attempts 

 to obtain profitable crops from exhausted 

 soils. 



It is needless, even were I able, to enter 

 learnedly into the composition of soils, or 

 the particular substances extracted by 

 plants, or even the manner in which they 

 extract them ; but if I find in the course 

 of practical experience that soil having 

 been for four years monopolized by weeds 

 has passed from a state of sterility to one 

 of fertility, I am justified in believing that 

 weeds act beneficially as restorers, either 

 by the extraction of deleterious matter, 

 or in aiding the decomposition of dormant 

 earthy mattei", and fitting it for more active 

 appropriation by cultivated plants. It is 

 not improbable that plants indigenous 

 to the soil, such as weeds ar3, should 

 possess this power to a greater extent than 

 plants of more artificial origin. 



It is well known that plants growing 



