740 - 2 About Weeds. | November, 
ABOUT WEEDS. 
BY W. W. BAILEY. 
HAT is a weed? Generally speaking it is any plant that 
interferes with the operations of agriculture or gardening. 
Some plants are weeds because by their rapid growth they thrive 
to the exclusion of better things; others are so, simply from their 
unsightly appearance and their uselessness. There is never a 
question in one’s mind as to whether a pig-weed (Chenopodium) 
is a weed or not. Its rank and homely growth, its inconspicuous 
flowers and its very limited uses, at once discard it from the 
catalogue of desirable plants. So is it with the burdock (Lappa 
officinalis), although this possesses elements of beauty to redeem 
it. Its large, crumpled leaves spring up in odd corners of yards, 
about houses, or on dust-heaps where little else would grow, and 
serve to cover disagreeable objects. The flowers, too, are very 
pretty, as all young people know who have woven them into 
parti-colored mats and carpets. 
Perhaps weeds meet with less charity than any of God's crea- 
tions. They are active enemies, not to be despised so much as 
hated. They are cut down or uprooted wherever found, or, if 
by chance overlooked, take possession of our entire grounds. So 
great a pest are they that man has taken them for the type of a 
rank and rapid growth. Yet, when curiosity leads us to observe 
them, there is much beauty in these simple plants which we 
ruthlessly tread beneath our feet. We might leara a useful les- | 
son from the persistency with which they surmount all obstacles 
and survive every misfortune. The delicacy of taste, also, which 
leads a few to seek the richest soils or the sunniest exposure is 
worthy of our praise. And then, how social are they in their 
habits, forever seeking the improving society of their betters! . 
They take such enjoyment in life, too, frolicking over the mead- 
ows, coquetting with their reflections in the brook, or climbing 
“where the air is delicate” upon the the eaves of our houses, 
where they remind us of Alice Pynchon’s posies. 
_ Many of them, were they only less common, would be highly 
prized. Indeed, it is at times difficult to draw the line between 
true flowers and weeds. Think what the dandelion would be 
vere we not accustomed to its golden buttons and feathery 
sl Look, too, at t the axnriant growth of the cotton- hipte 
