WEEDS. XV 
hooks by which they adhere to clothing and the coats of animals, and 
are widely distributed by this agency. All of the Thistles, and many 
others of the same family, have a tuft of fine silky hair attached to the 
seed, or more properly fruit, by which they are buoyed upon the air, and 
wafted from place to place. So numerous are the ways by which seeds 
are di , that, however careful a farmer may be upon his own prem- 
ises, a dlovétilyaind neglectful neighbor may cause him infinite annoyance 
by furnishing his lands with an abundant supply. In some European 
countries a farmer may sue his neighbor for neglecting to destroy the 
weeds upon his lands, or may employ people to do it at the delinquent’s 
expense. 
The vitality of seeds, particularly if buried in the earth below the 
reach of the influences which cause germination, in some cases endures 
through many years; hence, an old field, after deep plowing, has often a 
fine crop of weeds from the seeds thus brought to the surface. W 
that have been cut or pulled after they have flowered, should not be 
thrown into the barnyard or hog-stye, unless the farmer wishes to have 
the work to do over again with their progeny, as the seeds will be thor- 
oughly distributed in the manuring of the land. In England they dry 
the pernicious weeds and burn them, not only destroying root and branch, 
but seed also. In all weeding, it is of the greatest importance that it 
should be done before the plants have formed seed. his should be re- 
garded equally with annual and perennial weeds. The prolific character 
of some weeds is astonishing ; each head of an Ox-eye Daisy or White- 
eed is not a simple flower, but a collection of a great many flowers, 
each of which produces a seed; and, as a single plant bears a great 
conde the number of seeds that a single individual is capable of — 
)lying in a season amounts to several hundreds. In weeds, evil should 
be, dap tieally nipped in the bud. In this respect, the farmer should 
act in the spirit of the Western savages who kill the women and chil- 
dren of their enemies, as a tolerably sure way of preventing the multi- < 
plication of warriors. Annual weeds are much more readily | ept in 
subjection t han the Pa ones, which, especially those which multiply 
extensively by their formid- : 
able. Here not only has the propagation by seeds to be prevented, but a 
subterranean and hidden enemy has to be combatted. ‘It is very impor- 
eS a unders a th 
