GARDENING 
FOR 
YOUNG FOLKS 
CONDUCTED BY ELLEN EDDY SHAW 
Some Common Weeds 
B EFORE the garden ; s planted, weeds appear. 
They are a sure enemy always to be reckoned 
with. Certain weeds develop a long, fat, tap root. 
This is a very persistent form, for as one tries to 
pull up such a weed, the root usually snaps off at its 
tip and so there is left in the soil a growing portion. 
Burdock is an example of such a weed. 
Make a study of a few of the most common weeds. 
First divide them off into their natural classes of 
annual, biennial, and perennial forms. An annual 
weed, like an annual garden plant, is one which is 
started from seed in the spring, blossoms, and pro- 
duces seed and dies in the one season. Ragweed, 
smart weed, lamb’s quarter and pepper grass might 
be selected as examples of this class. 
Biennial weeds in their first year will produce leaf 
growth; in the second season the flower and seed is 
developed. Take the mullein, burdock, carrot, pig- 
weed and field thistle for biennial types. 
The perennial weeds have a longer life than two 
years. Year after year the flower stalk is sent up. 
Morning glory and milkweed are of this type. 
Since many of the biennial weeds develop a long 
underground root, difficult to root up, it is necessary 
to try other means of eradication. If the flower 
heads of these plants are not permitted to go to 
seed, then the self planting of these weeds is checked. 
Weeds have many interesting and curious devices 
by which seed dispersal is made easy. The dock, for 
example, has a clever float so it is borne on the 
water. The sepals of the flower bear an enlarged 
hollow tubercle, these bodies together with the 
calyx make floating on water possible. 
Ragweed grows from three to twelve feet in 
height. Its leaf is like its name — ragged. The 
blossoms are rather inconspicuous and the seeds 
numerous. It is a very troublesome weed. 
The burdock grows in old garden spots, over 
fields and waste places. It is coarse in growth and 
leaf development. If a child tries to pull up even a 
small plant he is surprised to find that without 
doubt the tip of the root is left in the ground. 
The burdock flower head is covered with bristles so 
bent that these adhere to clothing or the coats of 
Common burdock, biennial. Observe hooked ends of 
bristles which adhere to animals 
animals. The little hooks are beautifully barbed 
like fish hooks. After the flowers die, large white 
seeds are found which later, of course, mature and 
ripen. How many seeds are in one head? Esti- 
mate the number of these flower heads on a plant. 
Here are problems for the school. A group of 
children may take up one weed for study: another 
group, another weed and so on. The result of the 
children’s study should be given in the form of oral 
reports to the class. Blue prints may be made of 
leaves, seeds, etc. Order for your school the bulle- 
tins on weeds which the Department of Agriculture 
has, and study them. 
Lamb’s quarter is one of the earliest of weeds to 
start up in the spring. Its leaves poke up out of 
the ground looking as if they had been frosted over. 
It is an annual and grows often to four feet in height. 
The flowers are inconspicuous, formed in clusters 
and the seeds are small and black. It is very com- 
mon everywhere, has a shallow root growth, and 
seeds itself profusely. 
Peppergrass is known to many children because 
it may be fed to their pet birds. The little seeds, 
borne in roundish or flattened pods, one or two in 
each, are peppery to the taste. This is an annual 
plant; its seeds are dispersed to a great measure by 
birds. 
Mullein, or velvet dock, as this large plant is 
sometimes called, is a landmark in the real country. 
It grows sometimes six feet in height. The leaves 
are large and hairy; the flowers, yellow, in spikes. 
Milkweed is perennial. It grows from two to 
about five feet high. The seed pod is the interesting 
part of this plant. The pod splits longitudinally 
and thus the seeds are exposed. The seeds are 
brown and flattened, tightly packed away in the 
pod with silky appendages on each seed which help 
float the seeds away in the air, thus determining 
the mode of dissemination. 
Common plantain is well worth adding to the 
weed list because of a little device in its seed capsule 
which is different from the arrangement in many of 
the other forms. Plantain is a perennial or biennial. 
Its seeds are borne along a spike in capsules. Each 
capsule opens transversely; in fact, the top comes off 
like the top of a pepper pot and in the remaining 
portion lie the seeds. The wind blows, the capsule 
is shaken, and out comes the seed. 
European bindweed or morning glory is a per- 
sistent perennial. It has a creeping stem. It prop- 
pagates by underground root stocks. It runs all 
over waste places, it twines about other plants, 
choking the life out of them. It used to be a gar- 
den plant but now is a pest. Its seeds, getting 
The dandelion, a persistent perennial, the seeds of which 
are wind sown 
2C7 
among those of commercial crops, have become wide- 
spread. You must be sure to root out the bindweed. 
This is rather difficult to do as the root easily snaps 
off before it is entirely pulled up out of the ground. 
So the chief things to study about in weeds are 
these: type of weed, method of dispersal and means 
of eradication. 
Establishing Home Gardens 
U NDER the auspices of the Good Will Club of 
the town and with the cooperation of the 
Superintendent of Schools and the grade teachers, a 
start was made toward interesting the children in 
establishing home gardens. The start was made 
too late to secure the interest of the Town Fathers 
and the School Committee so that no land near 
the schools could be utilized. The problem was 
different at the start from the city problem where 
no land existed for the child save in the public 
parks or squares. A New England country village 
has land to every house, or so it was thought. 
A talk was given, however, at the school to the 
teachers by an interested teacher from the State 
Normal School and they were asked to explain the 
venture to their grades and to ask that names of 
those desiring seeds be handed in. Sixty children 
thus began the summer with their small home gar- 
dens. A first prize of three dollars, and a second of 
one dollar and a half, were offered for the best 
general improvement in the surroundings of the 
home and in the work of the garden. 
To tie the work rather more closely to the schools, 
since the actual work could not be under school 
supervision, further prizes were offered for essays 
on the topic “What I did in my garden thissummer.” 
The children of grades five to eight could compete 
in this way and a first prize of one dollar and a 
second of fifty cents were offered in each grade. The 
essays must be an actual record of the summer work 
The members of the Club feel that lor the fifty 
dollars expended the returns were very satisfactory. 
A teacher was found who was willing to supervise 
the work and visit the gardens during the ten weeks 
of the summer for thirty-five dollars and the bal- 
ance of the appropriation was used for prizes. 
Williamstown. Mass. E L. Clarke. 
Canadian thistle, perennial weed. Note small flower head. 
Seeds are wind scattered 
