40 



sometimes imagine they are the same weeds met with in other 

 places, or that a particular weed which happens to be abundant 

 in our own neighbourhood is, as a matter of course, equally 

 abundant elsewhere — or what is, perhaps, more likely, we never 

 give the matter a thought. In truth, however, the term, weed, 

 has no meaning, as applied to any particular species of plant, 

 except in connection ■with some particular district or locality. 



Let us for a moment reflect what are the weeds of other 

 countries 1 Oftentimes the choicest flowers in our conservatories, 

 though not always shewing themselves in their native habitats 

 in that high state of luxuriance and development to which they 

 are brought by the care and skill of the nurseryman. On the 

 other hand, a large number of our weeds are quite unknown out 

 of Europe, except where they have been introduced,* and though 

 they may not be often cultivated for their beauty they sometimes 

 are, or, at least, kept as objects of curiosity. . The little daisy, 



* I have alluded above to the introduction of our British weeds into 

 other countries, and it is marvellous to what an extent this has taken 

 place in the case of certain species, which seem to accompany man, 

 without at all his desiring their society, almost wherever he goes. 

 Some of our weeds have found their way into America, Australia, and 

 New Zealand, where they are rapidly spreading, and in increasing 

 numbers each year. In New Zealand, our common Knot-grass, the 

 Dock, Sow-thistle, and Watercress, have not merely obtained a 

 footing, but are growing most luxuriantly ; while our common white 

 or Dutch clover is said to be " completely displacing the native 

 grasses, forming a close sward." — (Nat. Hist. Eev., No, 13, pp. 124, 

 125). 



Yet it is noticeable that some of our commonest weeds do not shew 

 so great a disposition to travel as others. While Chickweed has been 

 "carried out as a weed to the whole of the temperate and colder 

 regions of the globe," Mr. Bentham observes, in his " Handbook of 

 the British Flora," that Groundsel is "less disposed than many 

 others to migrate with man." like some of ourselves, it is fond of 

 home, and does not care to leave it. 



