TROUBLE 259 



useless or comparatively so." Many weeds have much 

 charm, and I have to confess to a foolish fondness for 

 some very troublesome ones, but one must, after all, be 

 a consistent gardener and mind the old saw: 



'One year's seeding, 

 Seven years' weeding." 



Weeds, of course, are annual, biennial, and perennial, 

 and it is rather important to know to which section 

 one's garden weeds belong. The extermination of 

 annual and biennial weeds, if never allowed to bear seed, 

 is a simple matter, but perennial weeds present greater 

 difficulties. The roots of most of them are outrageously 

 persistent, any tiny piece being detached at once be- 

 coming the self-supporting head of a thriving family, 

 well versed in the art of defying man, and woman, too. 

 To this class belongs the succulent "Pussley," which 

 Henry Ward Beecher says is the "vegetable type of im- 

 mortality." It must be gotten out of the ground en- 

 tirely, else the labour is vain. 



Cutting the tops off weeds has the same effect as 

 cutting children's hair: thickens the growth, and when 

 one turns them under, burying roots and seeds, one is 

 increasing one's tribulations a hundredfold. 



The seeds of many weeds retain their vitality for a 

 long time and will lie in the ground for years, awaiting 

 the psychological moment to burst forth in fresh and 

 green contempt of our lax working methods. It is the 



