136 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



during the palmy days of the plantations the 

 fields were not eroded, but that was because 

 of the constant use of concentric cultivation, 

 hillside ditches, balks, and other protective 

 devices; but when the fields were abandoned 

 the waters gathered on the hillsides, ran down 

 the slopes, and quickly destroyed the surface. 

 In many cases the destruction has gone so 

 far that to check it would cost more than the 

 value of the land ; but when not too far ad- 

 vanced it may be checked by planting Ber- 

 muda grass on the steep slopes and locust 

 trees about the heads of the gullies, and by 

 other preventive measures. 



The Travels of Weeds.— The term 

 " weed " is a relative one, and, as defined 

 by Prof. Byron D. Halsted, means "only 

 plants that are able to assert their inborn 

 rights above all others and wage a close 

 warfare with man for the possession of the 

 earth. There is nothing in structure, form, ; 

 or substance that distinguishes a weed from 

 other plants. It hrcs, grows, and reproduces 

 its kind like all others of its class, and 

 therefore the methods of migration are the 

 same as obtain with those of its kin. The 

 rapidity may be greater because of the 

 dominant weed nature, but the difference is 

 only in degree and not in kind." A large 

 number of our worst weeds came to us from 

 foreign countries ; just how they emigrated 

 will never be known in every case. " Some 

 came as legitimate freight ; many were 

 stowaways. Some entered from border 

 lands upon the wings of the wind, upon 

 river bosoms, in the stomachs of migrating 

 birds, clinging to the hair of passing ani- 

 mals, and a hundred other ways, besides by 

 man himself. Into the New England soil 

 and south along the Atlantic seaboard the 

 weed seeds first took root. Also, there are 

 wild plants of that region, with a strong 

 weedy nature, developed into pests of the 

 farm and garden. As civilized man moved 

 westward the weeds followed him, rem- 

 forced by new native ones that soon vied 

 with those of foreign blood. Not satisfied 

 with this, the natives of the interior ran 

 back upon the trail and became new ene- 

 mies to the older parts of our land. The 

 conditions for the development of weeds have 

 increased with the development of our 

 country, until now we are literally overrun. 



Weeds, usually as weeds, go and come in 

 all directions, no less as tramps catching a 

 ride upon each passing freight train than in 

 cherished bouquets gathered by the wayside 

 and tenderly cared for by transcontinental 

 tourists in parlor cars." 



The Scharf Library of Johns Hopkins.— 



The library presented by Colonel J. Thomas 

 Scharf to Johns Hopkins University includes 

 books, pamphlets of great value, and several 

 hundred unpublished manuscripts. Most of 

 the works are historical. The manuscripts 

 include ten by James D. McCabe, formerly 

 of the Confederate War Department ; many 

 on revolutionary history, and a large number 

 of a miscellaneous character. Other depart- 

 ments consist of a collection of materials for 

 the history of New York city and vicinity ; 

 a collection on early Missouri history ; the 

 most valuable of Thompson Westcott's books 

 on Pennsylvania ; materials on almost every 

 phase of Maryland history, and more varied 

 and complete materials for the history of 

 Baltimore ; a rich mass of documents on 

 southern history, and covering the whole pe- 

 riod of the rebellion ; about three thousand 

 " broadsides," covering many departments 

 of Revolutionary history, and including speci- 

 mens of almost every one written or printed 

 in Maryland during the last and the early 

 part of the present century ; Confederate and 

 Revolutionai-y autographs, with the letters to 

 which they are attached, some of them inter- 

 esting in themselves ; and various miscellane- 

 ous articles. 



Japanese Playing-cards.-^-The Japanese 

 playing-cards are more distinctly original, 

 according to Mrs. J. King Van Rensselaer, 

 than any others, and show no marks of com- 

 mon origin with them. They are oblong, 

 and are made of pasteboard, with the backs 

 painted black. The designs seem to be 

 stenciled, and are brightly and appropriately 

 colored and then covered with an enamel or 

 varnish, which makes them slippery. They 

 are much smaller than our cards. Forty- 

 nine in number, they are divided into twelve 

 suits of four cards in each suit. One card 

 is a trifle smaller than the rest of the pack, 

 and has a plain white face, not embellished 

 with any distinctive emblem, and is used as 

 a " joker." The other cards are covered 



