OCTOBER. 175 



were not able to fully develop their buds before the 

 season's growth was arrested. Should we have a warm 

 summer this season the following spring will be an early 

 one, however severe and cold the winter may be. 



These remarks apply only to plants whose duration of 

 life is longer than one year. Annuals make no store of 

 food material, except such as they lay up in their seeds, 

 and in consequence their germination is affected directly 

 by the conditions of warmth and moisture which prevail. 

 I do not find, for example, that my crop of chickweed 

 or of bitter cress is any later of developing this year than 

 it was last season indeed it seems to be more luxuriant 

 and vigorous than ever ; but that is only the usual appear- 

 ance which the persistent w r eeds of a garden present to us 

 as we face them afresh with the vain determination to 

 exterminate them. 



Innumerable matters of interest meet us in the garden 

 tit this time of year ; this question of annual plants is one 

 of them. To many amateur gardeners the sowing of a few 

 patches of annuals is the principal operation of the year, 

 and it is worth while to consider where these flowering 

 plants come from, and, if possible, why they have such a 

 short span of life. 



There appear to be two modes in which the annual habit 

 of certain plants has arisen, or rather, perhaps, we might 

 say, two causes which have led to the production of annual 

 plants. The first is the occurrence of a cold season during 

 which growth is nearly or quite arrested. Many plants, 

 therefore, have adapted themselves to the conditions which 

 prevail in the cold temperate zones by becoming annual ; 

 they grow, flower, and produce seed during the warmer 

 portion of the year, the seed lies dormant during the cold 

 season and germinates on the return of longer days and 

 warmer weather. 



It is surprising what a number of our common weeds of 

 cultivation belong to this section. In my garden and 

 lawn there are some thirty-six kinds of weeds (not more 

 than other people's, however), and of these twenty-one 

 are annual or live less than a year. It must be a great 



