258 WOOD AND GARDEN 



and of a reddish colour, and easily hidden in the brown 

 earth. 



But some of the worst garden-weeds are exotics 

 run wild. , The common Grape Hyacinth sometimes 

 overruns a garden and cannot be got rid of. S'ambucus 

 Ebulus is a plant to beware of, its long thong-hke roots 

 spreading far and wide, and coming up again far away 

 from the parent stock. For this reason it is valuable 

 for planting in such places as newly-made pond-heads, 

 helping to tie the bant together. Polygonum Sieboldi 

 must also be planted with caution. The winter Helio- 

 trope (JPetasites fragrans) is almost impossible to get 

 out when once it has taken hold, growing in the same 

 way as its near relative the native Coltsfoot. 



But by far the most difficult plant to abolish or 

 even keep in check that I know is Ornithogalum nutans. 

 Beautiful as it is, and valuable as a cut flower, I will 

 not have it in the garden. I think I may venture to 

 say that in this soil, when once established, it cannot 

 be eradicated. Each mature bulb makes a host of 

 offsets, and the seed quickly ripens. When it is once 

 in a garden it wiU suddenly appear in aU sorts of 

 different places. It is no use trying to dig it out. I 

 have dug out the whole space of soil containing the 

 patch, a barrow-load at a time, and sent it to the middle 

 of the burn-heap, and put in fresh soil, and there it is 

 again next year, nearly as thick as ever. I have dug 

 up individual small patches with the greatest care, 

 and got out every bulb and offset, and every bit of th§ 



