294 
HOEING, RAKING, AND WEEDING. 
germinated state, and either perish or he 
greatly checked ; or if the soil is pressed 
down again, it is possible, and sometimes very 
probable, that any seeds which happen to be 
still further advanced, will be thereby bruised 
and perhaps broken. These evils are avoided 
by pulling the weeds Avhen they are quite 
small and have but few roots. The same 
remarks apply with still greater force to such 
seeds as are raised in pots or boxes, &c, for 
these being generally smaller, and of a more 
delicate nature, are so much the more sus- 
ceptible of injury in this way. 
Besides the advantage thus gained by re- 
moving the weeds when they are quite small 
and young, there is another of some import- 
ance which is at the same time secured. The 
labour of removing them is lessened. Not 
only is there a less bulk to clear off the 
ground, but what there is to remove is much 
more easily removed ; the roots having less 
firm hold of the soil than afterwards, need 
less — often much less — exertion to remove 
them ; and though in a limited way this may 
not be of much importance, it becomes so 
when there is a large space to be cleared. 
Although, however, as we have just stated, 
the operations of hoeing and weeding are so 
nearly synonymous, there is some difference 
in the circumstances under which they are 
best prosecuted. Hoeing, which cuts off the 
weeds, leaving the most part of their roots in 
the soil, requires fine dry weather to super- 
vene, that the weeds may perish. Weeding, 
on the other hand, which pulls up roots and 
all, and removes them entirely off the ground, 
is best done when the soil is somewhat moist, 
because they are then most easily drawn out 
of the soil. It is not intended that it should 
be done during rain, but soon after rain, be- 
fore the soil becomes dry and parched, for in 
proportion to the degree in which the latter 
condition occurs, the difficulty and labour of 
removing the weeds become increased. On 
well wrought and light garden soils this is 
perhaps not of very great importance, be- 
cause, from the period of sowing the seeds on 
well-dug ground, sufficient time would not 
elapse for it to become hard and consolidated; 
but on heavy soil, and late in the season, the 
surface often does become hard, and then, 
though there may be weeds to remove, there 
is some difficulty in removing them. Walk- 
weeding too can only be done with advantage 
when the gravel is in a soft damp state ; and 
in the summer season, when weeds most com- 
monly abound, it seldom occurs that gravel- 
walks are very soft or moist, except imme- 
diately after rain. 
As a general principle, therefore, it should 
be borne in mind that, wherever there is 
weeding to be performed it should be attended 
to immediately after rain, and seldom can be 
done effectually in very dry weather, except 
it be on very light soils, or where the soil has 
been recently well lightened up. 
In almost every garden, even where the 
close destruction of weeds is made an object, 
and still more commonly where they are to 
any extent neglected, stray weeds of large 
t*ize will be here and there, more or less fre- 
quently, met with, which, having attained, or 
perhaps passed the flowering state, are 
prepared, or have already commenced, to 
scatter around them the germs of a succeed- 
ing progeny. Such weeds as these, wherever 
and whenever they occur, call for the vigorous 
application of hand-weeding. It is but little 
effective towards rendering a garden com- 
paratively clear of these nuisances, to destroy, 
as recommended to be done, the bulk of them 
when scarcely developed beyond their embryo 
condition, if even a few such as those alluded 
to are allowed to grow on to perfection and 
disperse their seeds over the whole garden — 
and this they will many of them do. For 
instance, the seeds of the groundsel are fur- 
nished with a feathery appendage, by means 
of which they disperse in all directions when 
aided by a gentle wind ; and this is one of the 
commonest of weeds, and one as likely as any 
to reach the fertile state alluded to without 
being detected, or perhaps hardly suspected. 
The only way to avoid this evil is to have 
every nook and corner, as well as every 
quarter, cropped or uncropped, carefully 
looked over frequently, and all the large 
weeds that are met with pulled up, removed, 
mid burned. The trouble of doing so is well 
repaid by the result ; for there is much truth 
in the well-known lines — 
" One year's good weeding will prevent seeding; 
But one year's seeding makes seven years' weeding." 
We have hitherto referred only to the 
clearing of weeds from garden-ground in a 
regular course of cultivation. It may, how- 
ever, be useful also to notice the method of 
clearing fresh ground intended to be appro- 
priated to garden purposes, and also to ex- 
plain what plants are understood to be weeds. 
Strictly speaking, every plant which springs 
up naturally, except the crop sown or planted 
on the ground, must be regarded as a weed, 
irrespective of the consideration whether it is 
a wild and useless plant, or the remains of 
some previously cultivated and useful crop. 
Indeed some cultivated plants become very 
troublesome weeds when once established in 
the ground ; but the greater portion of what 
are called weeds are wild plants not adapted 
to any useful purpose. Some of these con- 
sist of the plants natural to the soil, for par- 
ticular kinds of soil are affected by different 
