Wild-Flower Study 595 



to their nature the farmer must use different means of extermination ; he 

 must strive to hinder the annuals and biennials from forming any seed 

 whatever; and where perennials have made themselves a pest, he must 

 put in a "hoed crop," requiring such constant and thorough tillage that 

 the weed roots will be deprived of all starchy food manufactured by green 

 leaves and be starved out. Especially every one who plants a garden 

 should know how the weeds look when young, for seedlings of all kinds 

 are delicate and easy to kill before their roots are well established. 



LESSON CXLIX 

 Outline for the Study of a Weed 



1. Why do we call a plant a weed? Is a weed a weed wherever it 

 grows? How about "butter and eggs" when it grew in Grandmother's 

 garden ? Why do we call that a weed now ? What did Grandmother call 

 it? 



2. In how many ways may a weed injure our cultivated crops? 



3. Why must we study the habits of a weed before we know how to 

 fight it? 



We should ask of every weed in our garden or on our land the following 

 questions, and let it answer them through our observations in order to 

 know why the weed grows where it chooses, despite our efforts. 



4. How did this weed plant itself where I find it growing? By what 

 agency was its seed brought and dropped? 



5. What kind of root has it? If it has a tap-root like the mullein, 

 what advantage does it derive from it? If it has a spreading shallow- 

 growing root like the purslane what advantage does it gain? If it has a 

 creeping rootstock with underground buds like the Canada thistle, how is 

 it thereby helped ? 



6. Is the stem woody or fleshy? Is it erect or reclining or climbing? 

 Does it gain any advantage through the character of its stem ? 



7. Note carefully the leaves. Are they eaten by grazing animals? 

 If not, why? Are they covered with prickles like the teazel or fuzz like 

 the mullein, or are they bitter and acrid like the wild carrot? 



8. Study the blossoms. How early does the weed bloom? How 

 long does it remain in bloom? Do insects carry pollen for the flowers? 

 If so, what insects? What do the insects get in return? How are the 

 flower buds and the ripening seeds protected ? 



9. Does it ripen many seeds? Are these ripened at the same time or 

 are they ripened during a long period? Of what advantage is this? How 

 are the seeds scattered, carried and planted? Compute how many seeds 

 one plant of this weed matures in one year. 



' That which, ye sow ye reap. See yonder field si 

 The sesamum was sesamum, the corn 

 Was corn. The Silence and the Darkness knowl" 



— Edwin Arnold. 



