WEEDS. 5 



going too far to say that their suppression is a matter 

 of national importance. Eelentless and continuous 

 war should be waged against weeds, — and there should 

 be official direction and supervision to insure that 

 systematic efforts shall and must be made towards the 

 destruction of those impoverishing pests of the plant 

 world. There can be no greater nuisance, and none 

 calling more loudly for the interference of the authori- 

 ties, than a field or dyke or common covered with 

 weeds which are allowed to seed and spread themselves 

 all round; and those who attempt to estimate the 

 national loss caused by weeds will yearn for a revival 

 of that statute of King Alexander II. of Scotland, 

 which denounced that man to be a traitor " who 

 poisons the king's lands with weeds, and introduces 

 into them a host of enemies." 



Professor Buckman remarks that one of the most 

 fertile sources of the continuation of weeds is that of 

 constantly allowing them to seed on the land. 



In addition to the weed-seeds produced on the land, 

 there are other agencies at work to increase the weed 

 colony. The seeds of weeds are brought on land, for 

 instance, by (i) the wind, (2) by floods in the case of 

 low-lying lands, (3) in farmyard dung that has not 

 been sufficiently decomposed, (4) in the excrement of 

 fowl, and (5) through the medium of impure seeds. 



The Sale of Impure Seeds. 



However difficult it might be to prevent the intro- 

 duction of weeds by the first four of the processes 

 alluded to above, there should be no important diffi- 

 culty in preventing the sale of impure seeds. 



