•238 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW r6:8-Nov., i9io 



What is a weed? Opinions differ. It all depends upon how 

 they affect us. Every botanist or plant collector while botanizing 

 has been asked by farmers and others, "What are you collecting 

 them zvceds for?'' To such people almost any useless plant is a 

 weed, even goldenrod and wild aster being included. 



If we paraphrase the old definition of dirt, as matter out of 

 place, we get a good definition of weed — a plant out of place. The 

 double poppy is a beautiful flower in any place. But one year 

 this plant sprang up all over my garden, among the pansies, the 

 •carrots and potatoes. I considered it and treated it exactly as 

 any other weed, and hoed it up. I have seen a cornfield in newly- 

 broken bottom-land in which the wild grape climbed over the 

 •cornstalks. The farmer must have considered it out of its proper 

 place, and a "pesky" weed. The word "weed" generally suggests 

 something disagreeable. If a plant causes us annoyance or pain 

 directly, or troubles us indirectly by injuring our cattle or our 

 ■crops, it is a weed. 



Most weeds are objectionable because they interfere with 

 the success of our crops. And it is these field and garden weeds 

 that should chiefly be studied in nature-study. In school garden- 

 ing this makes a very practical topic. 



Pupils should be taught to recognize and name the com- 

 moner weeds, to know something about their life history, and the 

 chief methods of eradication. Many of them are very convenient 

 and suitable for teaching about life of plants in general. 



The common broad-leaved plantain is one of the best to show 

 children the bad effects of weeds. Its leaves lie in a rosette on 

 the ground, thereby effectually shading to death any hapless plant 

 that may be near it and not able to outgrow its enemy. This is 

 the chief reason why it is undesirable on lawns. Grass is very 

 sensitive to shading and needs all the light it can get. If a board 

 is left for a week in one place on the lawn, the grass turns a 

 sickly yellow or white, and in time it would die from the shading. 

 The plantain has the same effect. It thrives best in damp, heavy 

 soil, in shady situations, where the grass already has, at best, 

 only a precarious existence. In a comparatively short time the 

 grass may be replaced by the weed. Plantain is a coarse, hardy 

 plant — a characteristic of most weeds — capable of enduring much 

 abuse, such as clipping with a lawn mower, being stepped on, etc. 

 The most vital part, the root and stem and terminal bud, are in 

 the ground or very close to it, and thus protected from serious 

 injury. If the large leaves are cut off, others spring up from the 



