September 15, 1870. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



205 



to keep down weeds. He looks upon them as altogether con- 

 temptible. What is the use of imposing penalties for the 

 adulteration of seeds when we see the agriculturist so heedless 

 of the growth of weeds with his crops, and the ripening of 

 their seeds with his grain ? It is not the weed seeds sown with 

 the seed of his crops that the farmer has to fear, but those he 

 harvests with every crop, and which, being rejected by his 

 animals, find their way to the fields again with the manure. 



Some very nice calculations have been made as to the in- 

 crease some weeds are capable of by their seeds in the course 

 of a year ; but can anyone tell the decrease in the yield of 

 Wheat, Barley, Oats, and other crops caused by the unre- 

 strained growth of weeds ? Some will, no doubt, jump to the 

 conclusion that the deficiency is of no practical moment. 

 Presuming that to be case, and I cannot for a moment admit 

 it, how does it happen that the best and most profitable farm- 

 ing is that which is the cleanest ? Or, why should gardens 

 afford more than double the produce of the best land of the 

 agriculturist ? Is it because the system of culture is different 

 the ground more deeply dug, more manure applied ? Or can 

 it be that the weeds as they appear are cut down, the whole 

 resources of the soil reserved for the plants it is cropped 

 with? "Oh, but gardens do not pay!" The fact is they do 

 pay, and the ground is worth twice, often four times as much 

 rent as the same land is let for to the farmer. I have no doubt 

 but that the yearly produce of every acre of land in Britain 

 would be doubled were the ground kept as clear of weeds as it 

 is by the gardener. What is the practical value of draining, 

 of deep cultivation, and manuring, if the resources of the soil 

 be expended in a growth of weeds, in many cases little in- 

 ferior to that of the crop ? Where good crops are reared, there 

 are good cultivation and freedom from weeds. 



I have digressed, and could digress very wide of my purpose, 

 to endeavour to show that the land of this country is not agri- 

 culturally so productive as it is horticulturally, and that if it 

 is to be rendered more productive, such a result will be attained 

 by a system like that of the gardener — by deep cultivation, 

 free exposure to the air, and allowing nothing to grow upon it 

 except those cultivated plants essential to the health and com- 

 fort of man. 



No one knows better than the gardener and amateur what 

 are the injurious results of weeds permitted to grow with plants 

 or crops of any kind. It is well known that full good crops are 

 not had along with a profusion of the plants which the ground 

 naturally produces. Whatever is sown or planted does not 

 attain perfection without an array of weeds, each seeking the 

 continuation of its kind ; therefore to secure a good crop, what- 

 ever it may consist of, the ground must not be occupied by 

 anything else. 



For the successful cultivation of every plant it is essential, 

 first that the soil be open, affording free access of water, air, 

 and manurial agents to the roots of plants ; secondly, that the 

 plants have air and light. To secure the former result the soil 

 must be frequently stirred, and the more it is stirred both as 

 regards depth and frequency the more vigorous are the plants. 

 The deeper the cultivation the less is the danger from drought, 

 for the roots penetrate further, and the inert soil, exposed to air, 

 slowly and surely yields to its influence, whilst a loose surface 

 admits the rain and dew, and allows a freer admission of air 

 and solar heat than a hard close surface. This is well exem- 

 plified by land of which one part is surface-dug and another 

 part trenched. There is no comparison between the crops. 

 The first suffers from drought, the growth is weak, and the pro- 

 duce correspondingly small ; but the latter withstands drought 

 well, the rains penetrate more deeply and more regularly, and 

 the plants are more vigorous and attain a higher degree of per- 

 fection. Whilst in the one case there is a weedy crop, in the 

 other it is remarkably clean. 



When plants are sown and allowed to attain maturity close 

 together, being deprived of light and air, they have a weak 

 growth. The support taken from the soil is divided between 

 many plants, and light and air having diminished access to the 

 plants, the nutriment is imperfectly elaborated ; hence they 

 are drawn up weakly, and the produce is poor. On the other 

 hand, if plants have space for their full development, and are 

 exposed to light and air, they are strong and attain a high 

 degree of perfection, the produce being greater and of better 

 quality. Every plant left in the ground beyond what can have 

 proper support and due exposure to light and air is a robber — 

 in fact a weed. If we plant Cabbages at 1 foot apart we know 

 that the produce is not equal in quantity to what it is with half 

 the number of plants at 2 feet apart ; therefore we may, by 



having twice as many plants on the ground as it can support 

 or can have light and air, obtain a result no better than were 

 we to allow weeds to grow with what we sow or plant. Weeds 

 have the same influence on our crops as allowing too many plants 

 to grow in a given space — two, three, or more where one only 

 should be. They waste the soil's fertility, deprive the culti- 

 vated plant of part of its sources of support, and keep irom it the 

 essential agents for elaborating the sap — light and air. There is. 

 this difference, however, that whilst a thick seeding or planting 

 will give produce less in quantity and inferior in quality, weeds 

 allowed to grow with plants at a proper distance, whilst they 

 cause a less and inferior yield of the cultivated crop, like thick 

 sowing or planting, cause nothing but vexation present and 

 future. 



The object of all cultivation is to secure crops of plants 

 useful to man. All soils have a greater adaptability for the 

 growth of some plants rather than others, hence increased 

 facilities are afforded for the cultivation of a greater variety of 

 plants than were all soils alike in their constituents. Naturally 

 we have plants suited to every soil, situation, and climate, 

 whether these plants are in a natural or in a cultivated state. 

 All vegetation improves with cultivation, though some have ideas 

 of there being such a thing as degeneration, whereas everything 

 in nature is advancing towards perfection, cultivation causing 

 nature to show itself in new and improved forms. To make 

 the ground suitable for the plants affording support and enjoy- 

 ment to man it must be improved, the original vegetation got 

 rid of, or to such an extent as to be rendered subordinate to that 

 intended to supplant it, and he cannot fit the soil for the re- 

 ception of a cultivated plant without removing the original 

 vegetation ; the means necessary to secure a cultivated plant's 

 free growth and maturity being the readiest meana of freeing 

 the land of the obnoxious weeds. Indeed, the whole system 

 of culture is based on the extermination of useless plants, 

 and rearing in their place those which are useful. Still we 

 cannot cultivate the ground without first clearing it of the 

 original vegetation ; nor, in the second place, can we have a 

 cultivated crop without weeds, for however well the ground 

 may be prepared plants will come up which we must remove, 

 or if we allow them to remain we must submit to a decrease 

 in the value of the crop. If we turn a bog into a dry place 

 we do not find the land become barren ; the bog or marsh 

 plants disappear, and are replaced by vegetation of a very dif- 

 ferent class, and in turning up a piece of the original wild, 

 completely destroying the present vegetation, the soil gives us 

 vegetation in another form in its place. No art of man is 

 sufficient to prevent vegetation appearing without rendering 

 the soil wholly unsuitable for the growth of plants. 



Now, the best means of destroying weeds is preparing the 

 ground for the plants we wish to cultivate. The first, and, per- 

 haps, the most important part of cultivation is draining. ' ' And 

 what has this to do with the destruction of weeds ? If it im- 

 prove the ground for a cultivated plant, the weeds must grow all 

 the more rank as a consequence ! " We must not lose sight of all 

 our labour being expended for a cultivated plant, one that from 

 cultivation is more tender, and less capable of enduring hard- 

 ships than one in its wild state. A plant is rendered less 

 hardy by cultivation ; we require for its growth more warmth, 

 which is afforded by draining, which removes all the water that 

 would otherwise lodge in the. subsoil, and leaving none but 

 what the soil is capable of returning. In this way the soil is 

 rendered warmer, for the rains, which are charged with am- 

 monia, pass directly to the roots, and containing less water the 

 soil is more quickly warmed by the sun. It absorbs heat and 

 moisture better, and air has access to it ; besides, water is 

 slower in heating than any kind of soil, consequently to have 

 an undue amount of water in the soil is to reduce the soil's 

 heat-absorbing power, and consequently warmth. Though for 

 cultivated plants it is essential to free the soil of all stagnant 

 water, aDd to afford a free passage for rain through the soil, 

 doing so is certain destruction to some native plants, or what 

 are in many places noxious weeds, and without draining it is 

 extremely difficult to make them secondary to a cultivated crop. 

 It would be useless to seek the destruction of the Horsetails 

 or Equisetums by any other process of culture than draining. 

 Cutting off the tops weakens them to a considerable extent, 

 but they root so deeply that any injury to the tops is soon re- 

 paired, and there are times when their tops must make head- 

 way, and the roots are consequently strengthened ; but if we 

 drain the soil, remove the water from the subsoil, their growth 

 annually becomes less, and in time they disappear. For the 

 ' destruction of the Horsetails there is no means but draining. 



