WEEDS AND PESTS 257 



a despairing job it is to get tlie bits of either of these 

 roots out of the stiff clods. 



The most persistent weed in my soil is the small 

 running Sheep's Sorrel. First it makes a patch, and 

 then sends out thready running roots all round, a foot 

 or more long ; these, if not checked, estabhsh new 

 bases of operation, and so it goes on, always spreading 

 farther and farther. When this happens in soft ground 

 that can be hoed and weeded it matters less, but in 

 the lawn it is a more serious matter. Its presence 

 always denotes a poor, sandy soil of rather a sour 

 quality. 



Goutweed is a pest in nearly aU gardens, and very 

 difficult to get out. When it runs into the root of 

 some patch of hardy plant, if the plant can be spared, 

 I find it best to send it at once to the burn-heap ; or 

 if it is too precious, there is nothing for it but to cut it 

 all up and wash it out, to be sure that not the smallest 

 particle of the enemy remains. Some weeds are 

 deceiving — Sow-thistle, for instance, which has the look 

 of promising firm hand-hold and easy extraction, but 

 has a disappointing way of almost always breaking 

 short off at the collar. But of all the garden weeds 

 that are native plants I know none so persistent or 

 so insidious as the Rampion Bell-flower (Cain'panula 

 rwpunculoides) ; it grows from the smallest thread of root, 

 and it is almost impossible to see every little bit ; for 

 though the main roots are thick, and white, and fleshy, 

 the fine side roots that run far abroad are very small. 



