162 [Assembly 



although the wood of the pear was thicker at tlie junction than 

 the quince. 



Mr. Scott — Having been present at the last meeting, when the 

 subject of weQds was discussed, I expressed a wish, as the time al- 

 lotted for that subject had been encroached upon, that a little 

 more attention should be given to the subject, and that the rela- 

 tive characters of the various plants known to the farmer as weeds. 

 should be more accurately defined. Permit me here to stale that in 

 doing so I was not attempting to secure an opportunity to advance 

 any favorite opinion, or to confuse the scientific with any botani- 

 cal jargon. I am convinced, however, that even a slight addition 

 to the botanical knowledge of onr farmers would not incapacitate 

 them from raising large cabbages and pumpkins. It is true some 

 of them might be induced to regard weeds with a little more con- 

 sideration than they now do, and those noxious weeds called by 

 some sentimental old ladies and impractical gardeners, flowers and 

 plants, might become objects of interest to the neglect of corn and 

 beans. These are all the evils that I could apprehend from a lit- 

 tle more attention to botany as a science, or horticulture as a plea- 

 sant and elevating recreation. The preparation of muck and su- 

 perphosphate are of paramount importance. Weeds, however, 

 are plants, and we must learn something of their nature, habits 

 and peculiarities of growth and development. The best and most 

 direct road to this is by means of the researches of science — the 

 study of the discoveries and experiments of those who have spent 

 their time and means in tracking out a path for others to follow. 



My object now is to offer a few remarks upon the subject for 

 discussion, What are noxious weeds 7 And I cannot commence 

 better than by referring to an item which appeared in a morning 

 paper of this city a few days ago, relating the fact that a child had 

 been poisoned by eating gypsum. I confess I was at first a little 

 puzzled until I found that the gypsum poison was a plant called 

 stramonium (^datura stramonium) of botanists. This, you all know, 

 is the Jamestown weed, so common and luxuriant around the city, 

 and more so a little farther south, in waste lots, on ground already 

 cultivated, but now out of cultivation. This I should at once set 



