72 AGRICULTURE FOR BEGINNERS Mustard, plantain, chess, dodder, cockle, crab grass, and Jimson weed are a few of our most disagreeable annual weeds. The best time to kill any weed is when it is very small; therefore the ground in carly spring should be constantly stirred in order to kill the young weeds before they grow to Fie, 57. Witp Carrot be strong and hardy. The wild carrot dit- fers from an annual in this way: it lives throughout one whole year without produc- ing seeds. During its first year it accumu- lates a quantity of nourishment in the root, then rests in the winter. Throughout the following sum- mer it uses this nour- ishment rapidly to produce its flowers and seeds. Then the plant dies. Plants that live through two seasons in this way are called biexwials. Weeds of this kind may be destroyed by cutting the roots below the leaves with a grubbing-hoe or spud. A spud may be described as a chisel on a long handle (see Fig. 58). If biennials are not cut low enough they will branch out anew and make many seeds. Among the most common biennials are the thistle, moth mullein, wild carrot, wild parsnip, and burdock.