WEEDS OF MONTANA. 



steps be taken to effect its extermination should it prove a serious 

 danger. All the plates used are from the Division of Botany of 

 the Department of Agriculture at Washington by whose kind- 

 ness we are able to give a fair representation of many species 

 which would otherwise be difficult to describe. 



GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF WEEDS. 



Of the various groups of plants troublesome to man, the 

 weeds are of prime importance because of their abundance and 

 general distribution, and from their unceasing struggle with the 

 farmer for the possession of the fields. The weeds are that group 

 of troublesome plants, which promptly occupy soil on which the 

 native vegetation has been greatly weakened or destroyed by the 

 operations of man and his domestic animals and which grow and 

 flourish under conditions of habitation, cultivation, travel and 

 pasturage, and occur but rarely removed from these conditions. 

 They are objectionable because the\ r tend to crowd out plants 

 more desirable in our lawns, meadows and pastures, because they 

 render our yards, streets and waysides unsightly and spread 

 thence into our gardens and fields, where they choke out the grow- 

 ing crops and rob them of needful food and moisture, andvbecause 

 their seeds, mixed in the grain used for food by man and stock are 

 unpalatable, or even hurtful. Yet, in most of their characteris- 

 tics, weeds differ from cultivated plants only in their lack of 

 economic value and their greater hardiness, and the cultivated 

 plants themselves, under favorable conditions, not infrequently 

 escape and become pernicious weeds, like the carrot, radish and 

 turnip in certain sections of the Union. 



But there are certain characters and adaptations of weeds, 

 which enable them to grow and spread faster than other plants 

 and give them a peculiar relation to civilized life. 



Their habit of occupying lands denuded of their natural vege- 

 tation renders them free from all competition except among them- 

 selves. They have often wide-spreading basal leaves and spread- 

 ing or prostrate branches, which enable them to crowd aside other 

 plants, or their vigorous growth permits them to overtop and 

 shade out more slow growing species. They are usually pro- 

 tected against herbivorous animals by growing within fenced 



