ESSAY ON DESTROYING WEEDS. 101 



Perennials, such as spread by their roots as well as by seed, re- 

 quire a somewhat different treatment. One of the most troublesome 

 of these, the one most difficult to exterminate, is the dog grass, or 

 whitch grass, (Tricticum-repens.) Ploughing late in the fall, and ex- 

 posing the roots to frost as much as possible, shading the grounds 

 well by planting corn or other crops very thick, and frequent hoe- 

 ings, so as to deprive the plants of the benefit of light and air, will 

 do much towards destroying this tillage evil. A resolute farmer, 

 who gives no quarter to his enemies, will soon destroy this under- 

 ground creeping foe. 



The Canada thistle, and the slipper, as it is sometimes called, 

 toad flax, (Antirrhinum Linaria) must never be allowed to go to 

 seed or enjoy the light of the sun. Either head them as soon as 

 they peep out of the ground, or cover them with litter, cheap hay, 

 or other rubbish. Roots canuot live long in summer, unless their tops 

 find light and air. For perennials, injurious to pasture lands, and 

 grass crops in mowing lands, such as white weed, butter cups. Flea 

 bane, (Erigeron Philadelphicum,) Ribwort, (Plantago Lancecolata,) 

 &c., occasionally tilling the lands, and high manuring, seem to be 

 the best remedies. 



Of the Perennials, approaching shrubs so nearly as to make the 

 definition of shrub applicable to them, yet so unlike shrubs as to be 

 readily mistaken for plants that die down to the ground annually, 

 the most troublesome in the southern part of the County, in and 

 about Salem, Lynn and Danvers, especially, is the Woodwaxen, 

 (Genista Tinetoria.) This plant greatly enriches the soil, although 

 it allows nothing else to grow thereon ; and where it gets possession 

 of land that can be ploughed easily, it does not diminish its value. 

 But it is the ruin of rocky pastures. The Woodwaxen is a tap^root- 

 ed plant, giving out shoots only from its crown. Cut off this crown 

 with a hoe, or otherwise, an inch or two below the surface of the 

 earth, and the root perishes. It produces abundance of seed, but it 

 does not seem to remain long in the ground, like some other seeds, 

 in a dormant, but living state, capable of vegetating under favorable 

 _ influences. Hence ground once thoroughly cleared of it, is very ea- 

 sily kept clear of its occupancy. It may also be easily smothered 

 by covering it in the summer season, for a few weeks, with hay, or 

 any thing that will keep from it light and air. About three tons of 

 meadow hay, for example, will, from experiment made by myself, be 



