120 COFFEE CULTIVATION AND MANURING., 
was taught then, that weeds are bad everywhere, 
whether in a crop or out of one, and that they rob 
the soil I think there cannot be a doubt. in proof 
of what I say, weeds always take possession of poor 
land, and where they do, it is useless to try to grow 
any crop, and the land gets poorer and poorer. Now 
if the weeds did not impoverish it, what makes it 
poor? Then, if I manure a piece of land and there 
happen to be seeds of weeds in the manure, and if 
these weeds grow up, am I to think that they do not 
rob the land ef the manure I had put into it? I 
can hardly think that you will say so, and yet I can- 
not tell what to make of your notice to your corre- 
spondent if it does not mean that. If I am wrong, I 
trust you will tell me so in your notices to corre- 
spondents. I am, sir, yours respectfully, 
Wee 
Sandhurst, 18th March. 
WHAT IS a WEED. 
We might lay before our readers a list of the names: — 
(1) Of weeds, the seeds of which are found in samples 
ef grain, and by their presence detract from its value 
both for seed aud for milling purposes; (2) Of weeds 
which infest fallow land, and which it should be the 
object of the farmer to destroy when he subjects his 
iand to the process of fallowing; (3) Weeds which 
encumber the soil, but whose seeds being small do 
not find their way into the sample of corn; (4) Those 
called underlings, which are similar in many respects 
to those in the third class ; (5) Weeds which infest 
pasture lands. All this we might do as it has already 
been done in works on agriculture. Nay, we might 
give long lists under each of these five heads, classi- 
fying the various so-called weeds as annuals, biennals, 
and perennials, coupled with the common English and 
the uncommon botanical name of each ; showing which 
are troublesome on account of their roots, or rather 
underground stems, and which are obnoxious on the 
score of their seeds. But if all this had been done, 
we should not have advanced one step towards an- 
swering the question which forms the heading of this 
article. This question we have been led to ask, and 
shall endeavour to answer, from the perusal of a letter 
on the subject which will be found in our correspond- 
ence column signed ‘‘W. F.” The production of 
weeds is part of the curse imposed on the soil in 
consequence of man’s first transgression ; and curiously 
enough, it is the retribution that follows the wrong 
of exhaustion: ‘Thorns also and thistles shall it bring 
forth to thee, and in the sweat of thy face salt thou eat 
bread.” Thus the production and destruction of weeds 
