Extirpation of IVeeds. 237 



5. Goospfoot, wild oracbe (Chenopodiums album, viride, and hybridi/wj, com- 

 mon and luxuriant in our gardens, very prolific in seeds and in produce therefrom, 

 if not rooted out before the seeds are scattered on cultivated land, they being very 

 hardy and tenacious of growth. Like all other annual seedlings to be destroyed 

 only by rooting up. 



6. Wild orache, fat hen (Atriplex hastata), nearly allied to the chenopodiums, 

 from which it is only distinguished by some of the flowers having only pointals, 

 whilst others on the same plant have both chives and pointals, in common with the 

 chenopodiums: flowers small, so that this distinction can only be ascertained by 

 the microscope growing on rubbish, dunghills, and in kitchen gardens; an hardy 

 annual, very fertile in seeds ; to be prevented or destroyed by the sam- precaution 

 recommended for the last. It is sometimes gathered as a potherb, and eaten in 

 lieu of spinach and other greens. Withering. 



7. Fool's parsley, lesser hemlock fjEthiisa cynapiiimj, common in our gardens, 

 and in its early growth resembling parsley, for which it is often mistaken, and 

 when eaten it occasions sickeness : if the curled-leaved parsley alone was cultivated, 

 no such mistakes would happen (Withering): when running to seed it detects itself, 

 in that state differing much from parsley ; it should then be rooted out. 



8. Knot grass (Polygonum aviculare), someumes growing on gravel walks, 

 trailing a considerable length in all directions, very prolific in seeds ; care should 

 therefore be taken to root it up before the seeds ripen: hogs are fond of it. 



g. Ground ash ( jEgopodium podragraria ), described to me by Mr. Curtis as a 

 very troublesome weed in gardens near London; but as far as I have observed it 

 confined mostly to the shade of hedges ; the leaves may be eaten ea)ly in the spring 

 ■with other potherbs. (Withering). The plant is I believe perennial, and should be 

 prevented gaining a footing in land intended for other crops. 



10. Chickweed ( Alsine media), sometimes growing with great rapidity, and 

 luxuriance, on land much pulverized by operose cultivation ; an annual plant, very 

 productive of seeds, and where it abounds it is perhaps improper to give the land a 

 fine culture till it in some measure disappears; the young shoo.s and leaves, when 

 boiled, can hardly be distinguished from spinach, and are equally wholesome ; 

 swine are extremely fond of this plant, and it is a grateful food to linnets, to the 

 canary bird, to other small birds, and to young chickens^ Witherii^g, 



n. Black bind weed, here called bearbind (Polygonum convolvulus ), a para- 



