The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1897-04-14
Lawn Weed s.

grows where it is not wanted. Whether
or not any particular plant is to be cat
alogued as weed, depends upon the
of the observer. A person
going into the country from the city
sees fields gorgeous with the common
white daisy (Chrysanthemum leucan-
themum), which to his eyes is beauti-
full. To the farmer, however, in whose
bayfield, it grows, it is only the much
hated white. weed, which he would
gladly exterminate. The village man,
or the suburbanite, had his own ideas
of weeds. Broadly speaking, weed
is any plant, other than fine grass and |
PLANTAIN.-Foremost among these |
pests which encourage backache and
foster i'll temper and profanity is the
plantain (Plantago maior). Few plants
multiply with such facility, and few are
harder to exterminate. No lawnmower
has been devised which has any effect
upon this weed. The broad, heavily
ribbed leaves cling 30 closely to the
ground that the knives pass over them
in vain. You rise early several times
week, and at the risk of making your
self disliked among your neighbors,
VOW that you will NOW the flower. stalks
at any rate, yet after you have care
fully mown the entire lawn, and your
time has expired, you look back to see
numbers of the stiff spikes Haunting
their pollen-laden flowers in your face.
The common plantain is given as ma
tive of the country, with another spe-
cies naturalized from Europe. When
New England was first settled, plan
tain was called "Englishman's foot" by
the Indians, who said that it sprang up
wherever the Englishman trod. No
one who has observed the rapidity of
lie growth will wonder at the Indians
mistake. There is only one method of
relieving your lawn from this pest, and
that is to get down on your hands and
knees, or hire somebody else to do 80,
and with knife or trowel sever the
roots below the surface, then pull the
plant up. This you must do every day,
and then at the close of the season you
will find from q hundred to thousand
plants, according to the area of your
lawn, which have defled your skill.
After you have pulled up plantain you
will be dismayed to find that you have
exposed bare spot in the grass cor
responding to the plant removed. Then
you wonder which looked the worse.
the plantain or the vacancy.
Observation-Disclosures plant which
will invade large portion of the lawn
unless carefully restrained is chickweed
The common chickweed (Stellaris
media) is tender trailing plant, yet il
has wonderful power of propagation
and will flourish amid conditions which
will make the grass look fire-swept
The appearance of the chickweed bellies
its character. Its thin stems and smooth
leaves seem weak and insignificant, but
it pushes them through the grass in
every direction until nothing else il
visible. AS the chickweed grows and
blossoms close to the ground, the
mower leaves it also unmolested as il
passes over, 80 that the lawn can be rid
den of it only by hand.
Another species of chickweed which
grows in much-watered lawns, and il
possibly even more troublesome, is the
mouse-ear chickweed; it has rough
leaves, darker than those of the com
mon chickweed.
DANDELIoN.-The dandelion (Tar.
axacum densleonis) is another common
lawn weed. If worse comes to worst
you can get even with this plant by
eating it for dinner. 1t is not difficult
to eradicate as the plantain or the
chickweed, although if the wind be al
lowed 10 scatter the delicate feathery
seeds generous crop will reward your
negligence.
SHEPHERDS PURSE. - One of oul
COmmonest roadside weeds is the shep-
herds purse (Copsella bursapastoris)
which often obtains q foothold in the
lawn. When its growth is unrestricted
it is stout, bushy plant, foot o.
more tall. The lower leaves are cut
similarly to those of the dandelion, bu
the upper leaves are more arrow
shaped, and partly clasp the stems
The flowers are small, white, and in
significant, resembling in appearance
and growth the sweet-alyssum of the
gardens, which is member of the
same family, the Crucifere or mus
tards. The shepherds purse is mos
noticeable for it's long racemes of tri
angular green seed pods, each of which
is held by one corner on slender
stalk. The racemes grow Throughout,
the season, so that while seeds are
dropping from the lower portion, the
upper part is budding. When this weeo
gets into the lawn it is cut down re-
peatedly by the mower, and the roo
leaves form sort of rosette, from
which rises wiry stalk which Otter
defies the knives, and succeeds in put
ting forth blossoms. 1t has q stout tap
root, calling for considerable strength
in its extraction. American Gar
dening.