236 Mr. William Pitt on the 



jointed root, which affords shelter to various destructive grubs, worms, and insects ; 

 there cannot therefore be too much pains used to destroy them : they are to be de- 

 stroyed in gardens by carefully picking out the roots in digging, and as carefully 

 rooting up whatever remaining fragments of the roots may send out a shoot above 

 ground ; the roots of the two former are so very vigorous and tenacious of growth, 

 that they will even perforate a potatoe : if they are suffered to get a head they will 

 form a perfect matting beneath the surface, and a green carpet above, to the almost 

 total extermination of any other plant; they cannot, therefore, be suffered where 

 any other plant is cultivated. 



2. Suffolk grass, dwarf meadow grass fPoa annua), almost harmless in its roots, 

 but increasing so rapidly and abundantly by its seeds, as soon to occupy the whole 

 extent of ground near it, if not timely prevented; common in gravel walks and 

 pavements, or other spots where the surface is not repeatedly disturbed by the 

 spade or hoe ; so very prolific in its seeds, that it will produce and reproduce itself 

 four times in one summer : may be destroyed by taking care to root it out before 

 its seeds are perfected and shed, otherwise the vegetation will be so abundant as 

 almost to bid defiance to the weeders. Mr. Curtis recommends scalding it with 

 boiling water, as the most expeditious method of destroying it. This, though a 

 garden weed, is a sweet and good grass in pasture land. 



3. Catchweed, goosegrass, cleavers, in Staffordshire commonly called hariff 

 (Galium aparinej, more common in hedges than amongst a crop, but if the seeds are 

 permitted to shed will become troublesome, as they are numerous and productive; 

 leaves rough, so as to draw blood from the tongue by once or twice gently drawing 

 along, as I have seen experienced; may be easily destroyed in gardens by drawing 

 up before the seeds are perfected. Young geese are very fond of the branches of 

 this plant ; the seeds may be used instead of coffee; the expressed juice of the stem 

 and leaves, taken to the amount of four ounces night and morning, is very effica- 

 cious in removing many of those cutaneous eruptions, which are called, though \m- 

 properly, scorbutic ; but it must be continued for several weeks. These observa- 

 tions fVum Dr. Withering. 



4. Garden nightshade (Solanum nigrum), common in gardens near Brompton 

 and Chelsea (as observed to me by Mr. Curtis), but seldom found in the country; 

 though I have found it on dunghills. Being an annual plant, it must be destroyed 

 by rooting up before its seeds arc perfected. 



