The Weekly Perrysburg journal. [volume] (Perrysburg, O. [Ohio]) 1861-1???, 1865-10-13
Saru aud ayuusrhuld.
weeds ara seeds.

AZ weeds are great lecches, and the
worst enemies Of farmers aud gardeners, as
we'll as tho most unsghtly objects upon the
farm or garden, the reader may be intoro
ed in the following account Of the way they
sre scattered over the earth,
So universally are woods regarded rs IN
furious to agriculture, that laws havo been
enacted to insure their destructOn III
this country II has bcen made fnablo
offence TO permit tho Canada thistle 10
perfect iis seeds. France imposes u heavy
penalty on all who are in like manner neg.
lcctful Of tho common thistle. Every man
/ n Denmark who fails to destroy tho corn
marigold is severely punished. In the
early history of Scotland Whoever "poisonod
the kings lands woods, introducing thereby
host Of enemies," was denounced as n
traitor. Unhappily, with us there has been
an abundant yield of both. AS such in.
stances show how those posts have boon
regarded by tho agricultural world, one
would think 1t was now time Tor MS to hear
Of their diminishing in number But no
such diminution can be asserted.
The history of the migration of seeds Is
full of the most curious statistics. Tho re-
viewer of a recent publication makes tho
following interesting statement;
"rho lonely island of ST, Helena, for ex.
ample, at the timo Of it's discovery III 1901, 4,
produced about sixty vegetable spec o :.
Its fora NOW comprises seven hundred and
fifty species The faculty Of spontaneous
reproduction supposcs greater power of
accommodation than We find in most do.
incsticatcd plants. Although every wild
species affects n habitat of u particular
o..in Al xutll
exceedingly unlike those of it's birthplace.
Tho seven hundred new species which have
found their way to ST. Helena within three
centuries and half were probably not in
very large proportion desigDedly intro
duced there by human art. AS general
rule it may be assumed that man has IN.
tentionally transferred fewer plants than he
has accidentally into countries foreign to
them. TareB follow the wheat"
The weeds that grow among the cereal
grains, aud form tho pest OF the kitchen
garden, arc the same in America as in Eu,
rope. Some years ago, the author made u
collection Of woods in the wheat fields OF
Upper Egypt, and another in tho gardens
on the Bosphorirs. Nearly all the plants
were identical with those that grow under
the Same condition in Now England. The
change from one locality to another il effect.
ed by thousand casual circumstances.
Tho upsotting of tho wagon Of an emigrant
in his Journey across tho. Western plains
may scatter upon tho ground tho seeds he
designed for his garden. Tho herbs which
I'LL no important place in tho rustic ma
tbrid nse,iicd of the Eastern States spring
up along tho prairie paths just oponod by
tho caravan of the settler. Tho hOrUS sic.
Gus ofa botanist may accidentally SOW seeds
from tho foot of tho lIimalayas on the
plains that skirts tho Alps. 1t is frequently
observed, that eXotics transplanted TO for
oign. climates suited to their own growth
escape from the flower gardon, and natural
ize themselves among tho spontaneous
vegetation of tho pastures.
Tho straw aud grass employed in packing
the sculptures Thorwal lsen were scattered
in tho courtyard of the museum, in Copen-
hagen, where they are deposited, and the
next season there sprang from the seeds no
hess than,twenty live species OF plants be-
longing to the Roman Campagnu. In the
campaign Of 1874, the Russian troops
lroughtn the stuning of their saddles seeds
from tho bauks OF tho Dniepcr to tho valluy
of tho Rhine, and even introduced the plants
OF the Steppes into tho envirens Of Paris
The Turkish armies in,thpir no,Taions into
Europe brought Eastern vegetables in their
train, and left tho seeds of Oriental wall.
plants to grow upon the ramparh of Ruda
aud Vienna. Tho CaEada thistle is said to
have sprung up in Europe two hundred
years ago from seod which dropped out
OF the stuffed skin ola bird,