Art. 0020 Rev. 1848
Hogquote: Weeds and roots
From Hogweed.org, the encyclopedia held in common
This is a page of Hogquote, the collection of quotations held in common. For the plant, see Giant hogweed; for what to do about it, see Control of giant hogweed.
A weed is a plant growing where it is not wanted. Writers have been pulling them, and failing to, for as long as there have been gardens; many of them found that a garden explained other things rather well. The quotations below are given in the words of their sources.
Sourced
What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered.
’Tis an unweeded garden / That grows to seed. Things rank and gross in nature / Possess it merely.
Go thou, and, like an executioner, / Cut off the heads of too fast-growing sprays / That look too lofty in our commonwealth. / All must be even in our government. / You thus employed, I will go root away / The noisome weeds which without profit suck / The soil’s fertility from wholesome flowers.
The Gardener’s method has been criticised on the talk page: cutting off the heads of too fast-growing sprays is exactly what produces more of them (see hydra effect). The second half of his plan is sound.
Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest.
Il faut cultiver notre jardin.
We must cultivate our garden.
To be radical is to grasp the root of the matter.
The botanical sense of radical, “of the root”, is explained in the glossary.
Well grubbed, old mole!
Proverbs
One year’s seeding makes seven years’ weeding.
The proverb is close to the measured figure: in burial experiments a small fraction of giant hogweed seed was still alive after seven years (see seed bank).