FLOWERS OF THE FIELD 



It is difficult to define a weed. In popular language 

 a large number of plants so designated are of distinct 

 beauty and interest. There are flowers of the field, 

 as well as of the woods and moorlands and of the sea- 

 shore. Some rare and delicate species are to be found 

 among what Shakespeare calls " the idle weeds that 

 grow among our sustaining corn," and few will venture 

 to deny that a large wheatfield overrun with scarlet 

 poppies is a splendid sight, or a wide stretch of yellow 

 charlock, a veritable " field of the cloth of gold." The 

 truth is that the term " weed " has reference rather to 

 the locality in which the plant is found than to any 

 peculiarity in the species itself. It is a plant growing 

 where it is not wanted. It is not any particular plant, 

 or species of plants; it is any plant, no matter how 

 beautiful or how botanically interesting, which has 

 trespassed on cultivated ground and is injurious to 

 the growing crop. It is a troublesome intruder: it is 

 an agricultural nuisance. 



In ancient times, among our old writers, all corn- 

 field plants seem to have been classed together under 

 the general names of " cockle " or " darnel." The 

 words stood for all hurtful weeds that "choke the 

 herbs for want of husbandry." " Under the name of 

 Cockle and Darnel^' says old Newton in his Herbal, 

 published in 1587, "is comprehended all vicious. 



