WEE 



WEE 



489 



according fo the drill husbandry, 

 the plants in the rows must he once 

 weeded, and thinned as in gardens ; 

 but the weeds in the intervals are 

 to be more expeditiously destroyed 

 with the plough, horse hoe, or cul- 

 tivator. 



WEEDS, useless or noxious 

 plants, or vegetables not to be cul- 

 tivated. 



Weeds infest all kinds of land 

 more or less, and occasion abun- 

 dance of labour for the farmer, 

 and the gardener, so much that we 

 seldom find it perfectly accomplish- 

 ed. 



Weeds are several ways hurtful 

 to the crops that are cultivated. 



1. They rob other plants of the 

 food that should nourish them. For 

 they require as much nourishment 

 from the earth as better plants do ; 

 and in general they are fed with 

 the same kind of juices : For it has 

 been proved, that the food of all 

 plants is nearly the same. So that 

 wherever weeds are suffered to 

 stand and grow among plants, the 

 crop will receive proportionably 

 the less quantity of nourishment 

 from the earth. It will also re- 

 ceive the less nourishnient from 

 the air, unless the weeds are of a 

 much lower stature than the plants 

 that were meant to be cultivated, 

 and nearly covered by the plants. 



2. Weeds also lessen the quan- 

 tity of pasture for plants in thr- soil. 

 For their roots occupy and (ill ma- 

 ny of those interstices in the soil, 

 which wou'd have been occupi<-d 

 by the roots of the cultivated plants. 

 And many kinds of weeds have 

 such a multitude of strong and bind- 

 ing roots, that they render the soil 



62 



stiff and hard ; and so compact that 

 the roots of tender plants cannot 

 extend themselves in it. This bad 

 quality is possessed, in a remarka- 

 ble degree, by the quitch grass, and 

 by some other weeds. 



3. Weeds prevent plants from 

 tillering, or branching out from 

 their roots, as many kinds, and par- 

 ticularly the farinaceous, which 

 are the most valuable, are inclined 

 to do, when they have room. But 

 the growing of a multitude of weeds 

 among them reduces them to a 

 crowded situation; the consequence 

 is, that they shoot up only single 

 stalks, by which means the crop is 

 greatly diminished. 



4. Weeds deprive plants of that 

 free circulation of air about them, 

 which is necessary to their being in 

 a healthy and vigorous state. For 

 want of this they run up weak, re- 

 main of a loose and spongy contex- 

 ture, and bend down and lodge by 

 their own weight, unless the weeds 

 happen to be so strong as to hold 

 them up. 



5. Weeds, besides the general 

 evil of taking away the food of 

 plants, rob the soil, particularly of 

 its moisture, and speedily reduce 

 it to such a dry state that neither 

 weeds nor other plants can receive 

 from it any vegetable food, for 

 want of that proportion of moisture 

 which is necessary to give it flui- 

 dity. Accordingly it is observa- 

 ble that the abounding of weeds 

 brings on an early appearance of 

 drought. 



La-tly, some weeds of the creep- 

 ing kind twine about the plants in 

 such a manner as to prevent their 

 growth, and the circulation of their 



