WEEDING. 



381 



roots are cut over two or three inches beneath the surface. The common 

 daisy is very troublesome in lawns by the breadth of the tuft formed by its 

 leaves ; but being a fibrous-rooted plant it is easily eradicated, and provided 

 none are allowed to ripen seed, a lawn may soon be cleared of them. In 

 lawns not frequently mown, the daisy rake (fig. So, in p. 136) or daisy knife 

 (fig. 50 in p. 140) ought to be employed to cut off the flowers before they 

 expand. 



818. Weeds in shrubberies and plantations. — So long as shrubberies are 

 annually dug, the weeds are kept under by hoeing and raking ; but when 

 these operations have ceased, and the shrubs do not cover the whole of the 

 surface, the interstices generally exliibit coarse grasses and rampant weeds ; 

 and it is not a little remarkable that this is often found to be the case in 

 grown-up shrubberies, where the walks are kept clear of w^eeds, and their 

 edgings carefully trimmed, as if the eye of the spectator were not directed to 

 the scenery on each side. If the object were a fac-simile imitation of a 

 natural wood, then every weed that came up might be allowed to grow and 

 flourish ; but as we are referring to shrubberies, which are always artificial 

 plantations, and chiefly of foreign plants, — in these, we say, no herbaceous 

 plant ought to be allowed to grow up and flourish, that is, not as artificial as 

 the trees and shrubs among which it appears. If therefore the shrubbery in 

 its young state contained flowers as well as shmbs, and is to maintain a pictur- 

 esque character, the flowers may be allowed to exist till the encroachment of 

 the shrubs destroys them ; but if the character to be maintained is the 

 gardenesque (in which every plant should stand free, with sufficient room to 

 display its natural shape), then no more herbaceous plants ought to be 

 allowed to exist than can attain a proper size and degree of perfection. All 

 the others interfere with the character to be maintained, and ought therefore 

 to be treated as weeds. The manner in which these are removed in shrub- 

 beries and plantations which have ceased to be dug is chiefly by mowing, 

 which ought to be done three or four times in the course of summer. Where 

 shrubberies are properly managed, digging, or at least hoeing, among the 

 plants will not cease till the shrubs have nearly or altogether covered the 

 ground, in w^hich case very few weeds will appear. In many cases, the 

 ground may be covered with low evergreens, such as ivy, tutsan, periwinkle, 

 spurge, laurel, &c., when the larger shrubs and trees may stand at a consi- 

 derable distance apart, and yet little or no weeding become necessary. When 

 large weeds only are to be pulled out of shrubberies, this may sometimes be 

 done with weeding pincers (fig. 824) after the weeds have thrown up their 

 flower- stems ; but the evil, both in regard to exhausting 

 the soil and appearance, is in that case in a great measure 

 already eff'ected, therefore the best mode is to cut them over 

 a few inches beneath the surface with the weeding spud 

 (fig. 28, in p. 134), as soon as they make their appearance 

 in spring. 



819. Weeds in woods and park scenery are chiefly de- 

 stroyed by mowing ; and it has been found, as already 

 mentioned (774), that bmising and tearing off" the stems 

 often destroy the root more effectually than cutting with 

 the scythe. In thick woods consisting of trees and un- 

 der gTowths, the ground is generally so effectually covered 

 Fig. 324. Weeding ^jj-j^ bushes that no weeds can make their appear- 



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