2 WEEDS OK KAKM LAND 



in the light of fuller knowledge, to fill in and to correct 

 inaccuracies in the details. 



Before beginning to discuss the problem in its general 

 bearings it is essential that one should have a clear idea of 

 the meaning of the term weed. The word is used very loosely, 

 and under some circumstances is made to apply to almost any 

 plant in any situation. For our purpose, however, it is 

 essential to narrow the meaning down so that it bears an 

 exact significance. British farm-land is worked on two distinct 

 systems, according as the land is under the plough or laid 

 down to grass. Generally both systems are combined, and a 

 typical English farm consists of grass and arable land in pro- 

 portions which vary according to the locality and to the in- 

 dividual needs of the farmer. The cropping under the two 

 systems is radically different, as on the arable land the crop 

 plants are fugitive and occupy the soil for a comparatively 

 short season before they make way bodily for another crop, 

 whereas on grass-land the plants are permanent, and retain 

 their positions year after year, never being replaced by others 

 unless the sward is ploughed up and a new crop sown. This 

 difference in chopping has so great an influence upon the 

 vegetation that covers the ground that it is necessary to have 

 different definitions for the weeds of arable and grass-lands. 

 On ploughed land a farmer desires only the crop from the 

 seed he intends to sow, and anything else that appears on the 

 field may be regarded as a weed. Consequently, a weed of 

 arable land may be defined as " any plant other than the crop 

 sown ". On grass-land, on the contrary, a varied herbage 

 is desirable, provided that the constituents of the herbage are 

 of good nutritive value. Old pasture is usually clothed with 

 a mixture of grasses, clover, and miscellaneous plants, which 

 vary in proportion and in their value as food for stock whether 

 as green fodder or as hay. Some of the grasses, such as 

 Yorkshire fog, in some districts are almost useless or are 

 positively harmful, whereas some of the miscellaneous plants 

 such as rib-grass, are of high feeding value and in moderation 

 are welcomed in the herbage. It is thus very difficult to say 

 exactly what constitutes a weed of grass-land, but perhaps it 

 may be defined as (a) "a plant of low feeding value," or (b} 

 " a plant that grows so luxuriantly or plentifully that it chokes 

 out other plants that possess more valuable nutritive properties ". 

 Farmers regard the weeds of ploughed land and of grass- 

 land from very different standpoints. Every agriculturist 



