190 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 



bears seed enough for a whole acre. It is very tenacious 

 of life. The least hit of root sj)routs again, and when 

 rooted up, if a single fibre touches the soil, it starts off in 

 full vigor. When boiled it furnishes a very palatable article 

 of " greens." We go over the ground with a hoe, then 

 rake it into heaps and wheel it to the barn-yard. Hogs 

 are fond of it, and it is said to fatten them well. It is 

 somewhat amusing to those who are vexed at its insuper- 

 able intrusiveness and its inevitable vigor, to hear English 

 garden-books speaking of it as " somewhat tender," of rais- 

 ing it on hot-beds, of drilling it in the open garden, of 

 watering it in dry weather thrice a week, and cutting it 

 carefully so that it may sprout again ! Cut it as you please, 

 gentlemen ! rake it into alleys, let an August sun scorch it, 

 and if there is so much as a handful of dirt thrown at it, no 

 fear but that it will sprout again. It is a vegetable type of 

 immortality. The Jamestown weed (called jimpsum), the 

 Spanish needle, lamb's-quarters, etc., are easily eradicated 

 for the season by one or two hoeings. The grasses which 

 infest gardens, spreading into a cultivated ground from the 

 grass-plat, or brought in with manure, are easily weeded 

 out if plucked while small ; but if left, the long spreading- 

 roots tear up tender plants along with them. 



It is said that if no seeds were brought into the land by 

 wind or manure, or growth, the stock of weeds might be 

 eradicated in eight years. 'But so long as corners and 

 fence edges are reserved as weed-nurseries, to furnish an 

 annual supply of seed, no one need fear that gardening will 

 become too easy from want of work. 



We know of but two reasons for letting weeds grow to 

 any size. In a large garden, when all the ground is not to 

 be planted at once, the reserved portions may be suffered 

 to sprout all the weeds, and when six or eight inches high, 

 if turned under, they will furnish good manure. Again, 

 when cut-worms are very numerous, when tomatoes and 

 cabbages have been set out on a clean compartment, we 



