WEEDS. 
(A Paper read at the November meeting of the 
Hawkesbury Agricnitural ~ociety.) 
By C. T. Musson. 
Definition of Weeds.—Weeds are a re- 
markable (I had written misunderstood) 
group of plants. The ceaselessly persis 
tent qualities they possess if found in man 
would merit unstinted praise. For have 
they not found the way to live everywhere 
and to multiply exceedingly in spite of 
our increasing attention to them and of 
all other obstacles? 
There is something in the definition of 
weeds given by one of our students. 
“Weeds are things which Adam had to 
contend with in the Garden of Eden for 
disobeying 'God ;” if we read this, “‘weeds 
are things which man has to contend with 
in the great world’s farm,’ we have a 
good working definition, and we may note 
_ that the weeds win or we must: there are 
no half measures in nature. Our atti- 
tude towards them should be that of a 
philosopher—they are here; they must be 
endured ; but we must fight them, and we 
must win. 
For practical purposes we adopt as the 
point of view from which to consider 
weeds that of a grower who requires soil 
produce in sufficient quantity (commonly 
understood as a large quantity), and of 
good quality (quality is often sacrificed for 
quantity; a mistake made by all except 
those who know the result). Our stand- 
point is therefore a personal one. 
Now what-do-we-really mean by the 
word “Weed?” It is necessary to get a 
definition as accurate as possible as to 
what plants are weeds, and why, and then 
consider which of them need our special 
attention; for many are neutral in their 
action. We. may describe as “weeds,” 
“any plants growing out of what we con- 
sider their home position, if they interfere 
with us in any way.’ Couch is a weed 
in. the orchard, whilst in the paddock is a 
useful plant. Another good definition is 
- “plants which tend to take prevalent pos- 
session of the soil used for man’s purpose, 
irrespective of his will.” Still another, 
“any uncultivated plant when  trouble- 
some.” This latter we can take as our 
idea of a weed; and weeds are mostly 
herbs. It is an interesting fact: that 
weeds are weeds in that they have been 
successful in resisting the adverse in- 
fluences in life: they are the successful 
competitors in the plant race for positions 
as colonists; they are hardy, prolific, 
ubiquitous, successful travellers, not at all 
fastidious as to soil, situation, or food; 
they respond luxuriantly to the good 
things of life. 3 
Consequent upon the mildness of our 
climate, and for other reasons, they have 
exceptional chances in this country ; there 
is- every opportunity here for pushing 
plant travellers to get a footing. In cul- 
tivating we make the ground bare: our 
native grasses are more or less of a tus- 
socky habit, hence there occur numerous” 
hare patches of soil between the indivi- 
duals forming the plant covering. (Couch 
is a colonist of a kind; in early days it 
‘HE AUSTRAL‘AN GARDENER. 
was not nearly so widespread as at pre- 
sent.) Animals make trees and fences 
their rubbing posts and lay bare the soil 
by trampling about them. Our stock 
routes are of soft ground mostly, and 
readily become bare under the influence of 
grazing and the wear and tear of innumer- 
able feet. On these bared patches seeds 
fall, and with the first rain germinate; all 
seeds then have an equal chance. The 
weeds, of exceptionally hardy nature push 
up and frequently crowd out the native 
vegetation; sometimes of course not en- 
tirely to our disadvantage. 
Nature started making the hardy weeds 
what they are, and man with his cultivar 
tion process finished the process by pro- 
viding opportunities for such plants as 
developed the talent to become the suc- 
cessful invaders, our “weeds!” Their 
Carrot-weed. 
hardihood and numbers are due to special 
endowments which fit them for success in 
the battle of life. Possession of these en- 
dowments gives them an inherent power 
to seize every opportunity presented. 
These endowments have actually made 
weeds travellers; chief amongst the causes 
which have made them aggressive is the 
fact that they have means for ready and 
certain distribution; the seeds. or fruits 
are constructed in such a way that they 
have exceptional facilities in this direc- 
tion; for instance in the possession of a 
balloon-like attachment as in thistles and 
dandelion, or of hooks for attachment to 
animals, as in burr-plants. pa 
No doubt the increase of weeds is 
largely due to neglect from growers not 
being aware of their noxious nature and 
power of spreading and consequently leav- 
ing them alone, together with the occu- 
__ Feb. 1, 1994 % 
pancy of large areas of land and the ab~ 
sence of an “off season when attention 
could be specially directed to their exter- 
mination or redugtion. 
If we are to understand weeds and adopt 
the right view as to their nature and 
action, we must first recognise the facts 
stated. and grasp the idea that from the 
weed point of view they are the successful 
colonists amongst plants; this will help us 
in fighting them, for if we know the rea- 
sons why they are strong we can attack 
them at such times and in such manner 
as will prevent them developing their 
strength ; thus they remain weak, without 
those special powers which render them 
strong to fix themselves and retain their 
hold. ini 
Is the strong point seeding? Then. we 
must prevent it. The Canada thistle pre~ 
duces 42,000 seeds, a mallow 16,500, sow 
thistle 19,000, pigface 100,000: (the num-— 
bers are approximations). ‘ 
Is the possession of underground stems 
or tough root-stocks the strong point? 
Then we must prevent the plant digesting 
and breathing by not allowing leaves to 
develop, for they are the stomach and 
lungs of the plant. 
It will be seen, therefore, that’ we 
strengthen our position if we know ‘the 
habits of the various weeds; no two-are 
alike, and the contrivances they possess of 
_ special use to their needs are as varied’ as 
the plants themselves. They all, ‘how- 
ever, possess one characteristic in common, 
perhaps, the most important of all, adapta- 
bility; a vxemarkable ability to adapt 
themselves to any and every kind of sur 
rounding. 2 
In this country we haye many remark— 
able structural features in the native 
plants which enable them to tide over the 
droughty periods—but the weeds are never 
in the rear; Nature’s hard and relentless 
. school in which it is live or die, has de 
veloped them as we find them to-day, push- 
ing in and. along anywhere and . every~ 
- where. 95> . 
Tur, Bap Pornrs or WEEDS. : 
In reviewing weeds we may recapitulate 
‘shortly the reasons why they are detri~ 
mental. Ey 
(a) They involve extra labor and may 
even bring about a change of rotation. | 
(b) They establish competition for food 
materials and light and smother. out 
weaker or even useful plants; it depends 
largely on the stage of growth whether 
weeds smother the crop or the reverse, im 
some cases they do take complete posses- 
sion of the ground and may thus crowd 
out completely everything else. We may 
note in passing that (other things beimg 
equal) weeds are hardy and prolific as com- 
pared with most cultivated plants, for the 
very fact of cultivation coddles the latter 
into a more or less weakly condition— 
chiefly because they are forced along one 
line of, development to the suppression of 
ather phases of the plant life, thus disturh- 
ing the natural balance; in such a condi- 
tion plants become more liable to disease. 
(c) Weeds encourage evaporation of soil 
moisture. The amount evaporated here 
