WEEDS AND PESTS 259 



whitish leaf stem, for I have such faith in its power of 

 reproduction that I think every atom of this is capable 

 of making a plant, only to find next year a thriving 

 young tuft of the "grass" in the same place. And 

 yet the bulb and underground stem are white, and the 

 earth is brown, and I passed it all several times 

 through my fingers, but all in vain. I confess that 

 it beats me entirely. 



Coronilla varia is a little plant that appears in 

 catalogues among desirable Alpines, but is a very 

 "rooty" and troublesome thing, and scarcely good 

 enough for garden use, though pretty in a grassy bank 

 where its rambling ways would not be objectionable. 

 I once brought home from Brittany some roots of 

 Linaria repens, that looked charming by a roadside, and 

 planted them in a bit of Alpine garden, a planting that 

 I never afterwards ceased to regret. 



I learnt from an old farmer a good way of getting 

 rid of a bed of nettles — to thrash them down with 

 a stick every time they grow up. If this is done 

 about three times during the year, the root becomes so 

 much weakened that it is easily forked out, or if the 

 treatment is gone on with, the second year the nettles 

 die. Thrashing with a stick is better than cutting, as 

 it makes the plant bleed more ; any mutilation of 

 bruise or ragged tearing of fibre is more harmful to 

 plant or tree than clean cutting. 



Of bird, beast, and insect pests we have plenty. 

 First, and worst, are rabbits. They will gnaw and 



