GARDEN FOES AND GARDEN FRIENDS 129 



Although we are willing to concede that weeds have reason 

 for being, no gardener will, except by special "permit," 

 grant them the freedom of his garden. Still, getting rid of 

 them is a great problem. In special instances it has been 

 found that these nurslings can be destroyed in their cradles 

 by sterilizing the soil. In greenhouses this is now often 

 done by a hot- water process. Acting on this principle, some 

 schoolboys not long ago tried baking in their mothers' ovens 

 the topsoil for their vegetable gardens, — and with fair suc- 

 cess. But sterilizing presents altogether too many difficulties 

 to warrant considering it seriously for general practice. Really 

 the only way to disturb these weed nurseries is by hoe or hand 

 weeder. For a nature-study class, collecting the weeds of a 

 region, mounting them so as to show their life histories from 

 seedling to fruit, is well worth while. This is in direct line 

 with the work of the experiment station. 



Somehow weeding is always referred to as the lowest form 

 of drudgery, and so it would seem like putting on airs for us 

 to claim that it can be anything else. Has it not been said 

 to require a cast-iron back with a hinge in it ? And yet in 

 this occupation, as in every sort of toil, much depends upon 

 the purpose for which it is being done. We cannot doubt 

 Stevenson's sincerity, for instance, when he wrote to his 

 friends from that garden in Samoa which he loved so dearly : 

 " I went crazy over outdoor work. Nothing is so interesting 

 as weeding, clearing, and path-making. ... If you could 

 see this place. It will be a home for angels." x And as a bit 

 of encouragement for ourselves, just fancy what weeding in 

 the tropics must be ! 



Enters now a second trouble. Even the mildest-tempered 

 farmer is apt to lose patience when he sets out to rid his farm 

 land of the fungi that calmly nourish themselves upon the 



1 R. L. Stevenson, Vailima Letters. 



