WEEDS OF OUR FIELDS, WAYSIDES AND TOWNS. 5 



history, and the collecting of them preserves a record of 

 what would otherwise be totally lost. 



But the subject of this address has nothing to do 

 with rarities, except by extreme contrast and oppositeness. 



A townsman, especially if his location be Widnes, 

 has little hope of collecting a rarity; and if any plants 

 or animals have a tendency to extinction they will have 

 every chance of effecting it in the atmosphere of that town, 

 The survivors and their nature are to be my topic, and 

 when I come to speak of weeds no one will regard rne as 

 a dangerous or objectionable character, or suspect me of 

 covetousness, if I collect a few and exhibit the wonders 

 of their nature. For though common they are wonderful 

 and highly instructive if so be that one can find out the 

 why and wherefore of their being. 



But let me first define: for the term "weed," as 

 applied to a plant, has a meaning which admits of strict 

 definition, and it may well be admitted into the vocabulary 

 of exact science. Dr. Johnson's Dictionary calls it "a herb 

 noxious or useless," but this is too wide and includes too 

 much. I propose to be more restrictive, and to say that 

 there is a class of plants which dwell with man, uninvited 

 commensals, against which man has struggled since the 

 earliest days of agriculture, and which are still with him. 

 And these plants are commonly called weeds, and to them 

 I restrict the term. I trust to be able to show you the 

 origin of some, to guess at the origin of others, and to point 

 out certain characteristics in them which seem to call for 

 further elucidation, and probably indicate fruitful lines of 

 scientific enquiry. 



It may seem superfluous to prove the existence of 

 such a class, but in differentiating its members from other 

 plants a good idea of the first part of the problem will be 

 gained. I will first attempt a rough classification of the 



