

A MANUAL OF WEEDS 



WHAT IS A WEED? 



A WEED is a plant that is growing where it is desired that some- 

 thing else shall grow. It follows that a plant may be a weed in 

 some places and not in others. Cockle in the wheat fields is most 

 undesirable; New England Asters and Black-eyed Susans are 

 detrimental when growing in the meadow ; but all are graceful and 

 beautiful plants, and, growing in a protected flower garden, would 

 be a feast to color-loving eyes. It is well that most pernicious 

 plants have little beauty to make them desired in the posy beds of 

 the farm home, for, though it is necessary to label some bad weeds 

 as " escapes from cultivation," they are not numerous nor among 

 the most evil of their kind. 



Each weed has its own way of winning in its struggle with the 

 farmer's crops and its habits must be learned in order to know how 

 to get the better of it. This can be done only by a study of the life 

 history of the species. According to their nature, different means 

 of extermination must be practiced, always remembering that all 

 living things are tender and die most easily when they are young ; 

 and also that in every case the chief end is to prevent reproduction 

 of kind. 



Weeds, like all other plants, may be classified according to the 

 length of time they live : as annual, surviving the winter only in the 

 seed ; as biennial, storing in fleshy root or broad green leafy rosette 

 the food drawn from the soil and air during the first season, to per- 

 fect the fruitage in the second year; and as perennial, surviving 

 through many seasons and springing up to spread abroad their kind 

 and pester the land year after year, unless destroyed "root and 

 branch." Purslane and the common Ragweed are good examples 

 B 1 



