CONCERNING LAWNS 343 
had been destroyed by the weed-killer, the metal 
point of which is thrust into the centre of the 
plant and the poison squirted in. Now this poison 
does not kill the plantain only but the roots of the 
grasses as well—hence the naked brown spots. 
How long does the poison keep its potency in the 
moist mould? A long time, I should think, seeing 
that these naked spots were some months old. I 
also wanted to know if the poison was deadly to 
other forms of life in the soil, especially to earth- 
worms. ‘To ascertain this I took up mould enough 
from one of the barren spots to fill a flower-pot, 
then filled a second flower-pot with mould from 
outside the lawn, then went to the rose-garden at 
the back to dig for worms, and selecting two full- 
grown vigorous specimens, put one in each pot. 
The following day I turned them out and found 
that the first one had lost its vigour, and not only 
was it languid in its motions, but the colour had 
changed to a dull pink and had wholly lost the 
rainbow bloom of the healthy earthworm. There 
was no change in the healthy colour and activity 
of the second worm. I put them back in their 
respective pots and examined them again next 
day: the first was dead, its body a dull red and 
flabby. The second was still just as strong and 
active and of as fresh and healthy a colour as when 
first taken from the earth. 
I was satisfied that weed-killers are even more 
potent than I had thought them. As a bird-lover 
I had always hated them on account of their 
