CHAPTER XXVII 



WEEDS 



Consider the lilies of the field how they grow; they toil not, neither do they 

 spin. And yet I say unto you that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed 

 like one of these. BIBLE. 



IN the broad sense, a weed is any plant that is out of place. 

 Corn in the rose garden or roses in the corn field are examples. 

 In the usually accepted meaning of the term, a plant is a weed 

 only when it is never cultivated or grown as a crop, but there are 

 some exceptions even to this meaning. Plants such as the dande- 

 lion are considered weeds by most gardeners and farmers, but 

 they are sometimes grown intentionally for market as greens. 

 Because a few grow some plants for market does not prevent the 

 rest of us from considering them as weeds. 



Noxious weeds are those which are usually considered weeds 

 by everyone and in all places, but there are a few plants that have 

 run wild or escaped from cultivation that are classed among the 

 noxious weeds, and are listed as such in the laws of various states. 

 Examples of these are the ox-eye daisy, purple and white aster, 

 mustard, the bulbous rooted buttercup and others. Most of the 

 noxious weeds exist as such because they are more or less difficult 

 to eradicate. Each has some special characteristic in its nature 

 by which it is able to withstand the treatment it receives during 

 the tillage of the fields in which it grows. Examples of these 

 special advantages are : 



The wild onion has a bulbous root which will grow from its 

 large store of nourishment even after it has been rooted up and the 

 top killed by tillage of any kind. 



The Johnson grass and quack grass (witch grass) have very 

 long horizontal rootstalks running just under the surface of the 

 ground. From the nodes of these rootstalks new stems may be 

 sent up, and the more they are cut to pieces by the use of culti- 

 vators, harrows and other tillage implements, the more plants 

 there will be. 



The Burdock, cockle burr, Spanish bayonet, bidens, beggar 

 weed and numerous others have devices by which the seeds cling 

 to the coats of animals and thus are spread into numerous out-of- 

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