1910-1911.] The Weeds of a Garden, 317 



1Y,—TEE WEEDS OF A GARDEN. 



By Mr STEWART ARCHIBALD, Corresponding Member. 



{Communicated Dec. 21,1910,) 



Some years ago Mr W. C. Crawford, r.RS.R, in an able 

 paper on " The Aims of Field-Club Excursions," ^ mentioned a 

 number of very suitable subjects for special study, and among 

 others, "Weeds." "Not simply wild plants, but wild plants 

 which appear in our cultivated fields and gardens, occupy 

 the soil we till and prepare for crops and flowers, and enter 

 into the struggle for existence with these for food and 

 sunshine." 



The subject of the following paper was suggested by Mr 

 Crawford's remarks, and it is a rough attempt to give some 

 account of the weeds in the garden under my care. 



With what different feelings do the botanist and the 

 gardener approach these products of nature. The one 

 welcomes the sight of a colony of "wild-flowers," wherever 

 met with, chooses a good " specimen," putting it carefully in 

 the vasculum, and after drying, deposits it in his (or her) 

 herbarium, labelling it carefully. The other naturally aims 

 at the destruction of every " weed " (in his own domain, at 

 least), as soon as it shows itself above the surface of the soil. 

 In fact, as every one is aware, a large part of his time is 

 spent in an endeavour to keep the piece of ground under his 

 charge as free as possible from that class of plants, so that the 

 flowers and other things which he wishes to grow may have 

 some chance of success. But, alas ! for all our efforts. 

 Nature has endowed these wild flowers with such great 

 powers of reproduction and multiplication, that the utmost 

 we can do is to keep them within moderate bounds. 



Here is an incident illustrating what has been said. A 

 number of years ago, when residing in Forfarshire, I had gone 

 one evening to visit the gardener and the gardens at Cortachy 

 Castle. While my friend and I were crossing a little bit of 



1 See * Transactions,' Session 1904-1905, p. 219. 



