The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-06-11
PESTIFEROUS PLANTS.
A CHAPTER ON THE TRAMPS OF
THE VEGETABLE WORLD.

Thistles, Nettles and Such-"Stowa-
ways" That Come from Across the
Seas to Plague the American Farm
ers-The Warfare Against Them.
From the Pop,tldr Science Monthly.
Some plants, naturally, are better fitted
TO subserve the wants Of man than Others,
and for the growth of these he puts forth
special effort; In short, the whole underly-
ing foun iation Of modern agriculture rests
upon methods Of favorlng these plants and
thereby charging and multiplying those
qualities in them that led to their being
chosen by man as objects of cultured atten-
ton. The weeds have grown strong
because obliged to fight their way and
take every possible advantage when oppor-
tunity offers. They quickly win in the
race for supremacy in every field devoted
to cultivated crops when mans care
is withheld, and multiply their
kind to an extraordinary extent. More
reasonable it would be to expect a man
under the softening influence of civilized
life TO win in the rough race for existence
when placed, unaided, among savage
Indians, than to hope for the success OF a
parsuip or onion Seeding when surrounded
by rank growth of weeds. There is moth
ing in the structure of plant that Cain
like curses Il forever. No part OF the leaft,
stem. fruit or flower gives conclusive evil
dence that it belongs to weed, and therefore
we ara forced to back to the definition that
was accepted long time ago, namely, IA
weed is plant out Of place" Its relation to
others makes plant u weed.
THE CANADA THISTLE AND HORSE NETTLE.
There is a possibility of any kind OF a
plant being weed, but this thought does
not prevent some species always being ont
of place. For example, there is no function
| in the economy of the farm garden that the
Canada thistle can do as well as many other
plants. AS forage plant, or a source of
| nutritious seeds or beautiful flowers, the pig
weeds are a substantial failure, eQualed
only by their success in occupying the soil
| and robbSug it OF nourishment designed for
useful plants, 1t would puzzle any one to
find proper place for the horse nettle, now
advancing upon the eastern farmers from
| the southwest, and designed to spread It's
| horrid, prickly, WORSE than worthless
| branches over a cultured soil The bur
| grass. cookie burs, burdock and long list
| of congeners are practically universal every
| day curses from which all earnest CROP
growers wish to be free.
"STowAwAYs."
| Most Of our weeds, like much Of our YER
| min, have come TO us from beyond the sea
Just how they emigrate in every case will
| never be known; some as Legitimate freight,
but many were 'stowsways." Some en-
| tered from the border lands upon the wings
of the wind, on river bosoms. in the stom-
achs Of migrating birds, olinginR to the
hairs Of passing animals, and 100 other
| ways besides man himself. In the New
| Zealand soil and that south along the At
lantic seaboard the weed seeds first took
root. Also the native plants. with strong
weedy nature, developed into pest of the
farm and garden. Many of the
in comparison with the persisten and pug
nacious ones that have like vagAboBds emf
grated to our shores. Why should it be
that plants of another country not only find
| their way here, but after arriving assert
themselves with a vigor far surprising our
native herbsl The Europaaa woods had
through long ages adapted themselves to
the change from forest to cleared land and
were, therefore, prepared to flourish here in
| the rich forest soil that was suddenly ex-
posed to the sun and subjected to other new
conditions by the telling of the trees To
| 60 back of this we are not sure that the an
cestors of some of our European weeds ever
came from the forests, but instead were
brought into the cleared up land from open
regions in the early days of agriculture in
| the old world. AS civilized man moved
1
| forced by new native ones that soon vieG
with those Of foreign blood. Not satisfied
| with this these natives of the interior ran
| back upon the trail and became new enen-
| les to the older parts of our land. The con-
ditions favoroble for the spreading Of weeds
have increased with the development of our
country, until now we are literally overrun.
Weeds, usually as seeds go and come in all
| directions, no less as tramps catching ride
upon each passage freight train than in
cherished bouquets gathered between
| stations and renderly cared for by trans.
continental tourists in parlor cars.
THE WAR AGAINST WEEDS.
The fact is patent that weeds are every
| where, and the best means need to be taken
to resist their greater prevalence. In this
warfare against them there is no weapon
equal to a thorough knowledge Of the
| enemy-that is, an understanding OF the
nature of these pests, their appearance In
all stages Of growth, methods Of propaga-
ton and dissemination Of the seeds. This
| knowledge is much more highly appreciated
in Europe than here. In Germany. for ex-
ample, they have wall maps upon which
the leading weeds are represented. Hung
| as these are upon the shoot room walls, a
child, simply from daily seeing these life
like colored drawings of the various pests,
will learn their appearance and names.
some Such meUnou Oh lnstt ucGlon ~ needeo
! in this country by which the children
who are soon to be our farmers and garden
ers may become familiar with the trouble
some weeds even in the advance OF their
advent, and that the proper means may be
taken at once for meeting and destroying
them. Editors of agricultural papers and
professors in agricultural colleges yearly
receive many letters asking for the simplest
kind of information concerning many COM
mon weeds, thus showing the general lack
of knowledge upon this important subject.
To put q map Of a dozen of the most
destructive weeds upon the walls of every
country school house in the United States is
great undertaking, but If it was done the
mel and succeeding generations of farmers
would be better able 80 carry on the work
of determination.