PROTECTION G5 
would be like gardening without removing the 
weedy growth. Weeds steal the nourishment and 
moisture from the soil; they choke out young plants 
and thus prevent regeneration; they harbor injurious 
fungi and insects, and are in many ways extremely 
troublesome. This is especially so of climbing 
woody vines and of poisonous plants. A plant may be 
classed a weed in one place and not in another. It 
may serve the purpose of shelter at first, and then, 
later, become noxious. 
Species of the genus Lupinus were so named from 
the Latin /upus, a wolf, because it was thought 
that they devoured the fertility of the soil. Nothing 
could be farther from the truth. Leguminous plants 
improve the soil. The yellow lupine of Europe is 
called in Brandenburg “ the gold of the desert.” It 
is the woody perennial weeds which are the most 
troublesome, and which grow with great vigor in the 
presence of sufficient sunlight. It is often necessary 
to cut them down to prevent young plantations from 
complete suppression. 
Seeds of leguminous plants, because of their bene- 
ficial influences upon the soil, and seeds of plants 
that yield fruit which attract desirable animals, are 
often sown in the forest in Europe. One of the most 
important works of the forester is in keeping perni- 
cious weeds in check, so that the space and nutriment 
