JULY. 



93 



cause of death. "What could it be ? I turned off the turf for a good distance 

 about jt, with fork and spade the earth was thrown out. Why, the roots were 

 as white as a miller's jacket, eaten up with fungus. It had run up entirely 

 through the heart or centre of the tree ; it was as soft, dry, and druscy as 

 an old dry-rotted beam or board out of a cellar, eaten up with dry rot. What 

 is the cause of this ? Was it because it stands high and dry several feet above 

 the surface of the water ? No, the soil contained a good many old roots and 

 pieces of wood that had been intermined some years before by the shrubbery, 

 and had been grubbed. This rubbishy wood was white with mildew, druscyi 

 and brittle. Here, no doubt, was the enemy, and the effect was exactly like 

 the larch rot, or disease called by some. 



Another instance or fact I will just relate. Some sixteen or eighteen years 

 ago, on a piece of old pasture ground was chosen to place a clump or plantation 

 of Cedrus deodara facing the south-west, sloping high dry ground, was well 

 trenched, surface sandy loam, subsoil brashy, loose sandy gravel. Was fenced 

 in and planted ; the trees grew away, did as vigorous and well as could be wished. 

 Five years ago one fine plant turned of an unhealthy sickly colour. Why, the 

 enemy has found them out! Yes, the old larch disease is here safe enough. 

 What is the cause of this ? Why, on examination, an old hedge had formerly 

 run across the spot, had been grubbed and levelled. The old rotten, musty, 

 mildewed, decayed roots and sticks left in the ground were undoubtedly the 

 forerunners of this mischief, to which several other fine trees have since 

 been sacrificed. 



B™ton. James Baenes. 



WEEDS. 



The common plants which grow by the roadsides and on the borders of 

 fields, although constantly submitted to our observation in course of our walks, 

 do not in general attract that attention which thev deserve. They are 

 characterised by the opprobrious epithet of " weeds," and as such are too often 

 neglected and despised. Even the botanist, to whom every plant is more or 

 less an object of study, hurries past them in search of the rarer productions of 

 the vegetable kingdom ; or if he does perchance cast a hasty glance upon them, 

 it is only with the view of remarking something singular or uncommon in 

 their appearance. Notwithstanding the neglect with which they are treated, 

 weeds are not without their use in the economy of nature, whether we regard 

 them as tending in some measure to support the salubrity of the atmosphere 

 which we breathe, affording food to numerous tribes of insects and birds, as 

 well as to man himself; or, finally, furnishing products which are useful and 

 important m a medical point of view. Besides supplying the mere physical 

 wants of the animal creation, weeds may be looked upon as contributing in a 

 still higher degree to the well-being of mankind. 



Although common weeds, such as the Dandelion and Shepherd's Pouch, 

 are universally diffused, the latter being found so far south as Terra del Fuego 

 still there is a considerable difference in the character of weeds produced in 

 different countries, and even in different parts of the same country. The 

 common vegetable productions of Australia and the continent are in many 

 respects dissimilar to those of Britain ; and we find the dissimilarity still 

 greater if we extend our attention to the warmer regions of the globe. If we 

 confine our attention, however, to Scotland alone we shall find sufficient 

 illustration of effect which climate and soil exercise over the vegetable 

 kingdom. In the western districts of Scotland the roadsides and pastures are 

 covered with the Sheep's Scabious, a plant unknown on the eastern coast ; and 



