Americans inform us that about two hundred and twenty species of weeds have been imported into their country, mostly from the British Islands. In 1837, there were said to be only one hundred and thirty-seven. The common plantain is known among the Indians as the ‘Englishman’s foot,’ as though following the steps of the white settlers. The common yellow toadflax was, it is said, introduced by a Mr Ranstead as a garden flower, and is now known as the Ranstead weed. In 1788 it had overrun the pastures in the inhabited parts of Pennsylvania, and was the cause of bitter complaints. Chickweed is said to have been introduced as bird-seed, and the Scotch thistle arrived in a bedtick filled with thistle-down. Feathers being cheap, the bed of down was replaced by feathers, and the former thrown by the wayside. The seed soon found a congenial home. There is a troublesome American water-weed, however (_Anacharis alsinastrum_), which has avenged our transatlantic cousins threefold by choking our ponds, rivers, and canals. Another little intruder from the Cape (_Azolla pinnata_) may be troublesome. It is a charming little aquatic, and most interesting under the microscope. Some one had thrown a handful of it on a pond we wot of, where the common duckweed (_Lemna_) flourished; but azolla quickly monopolised the whole surface and crowded out the duckweed. With regard to weeds generally, it must always be borne in mind by the farmer and gardener that they not only deprive the growing crops of the food intended for _them_ only, but their presence robs the young plant of the air, light, moisture, and heat essential for its healthy development. It is quite possible, however, that some of the plants we now condemn as weeds will some day be utilised as green crops and ploughed in. The entire constituents of the crop are in such case returned to the soil. It is unnecessary to allude here to another aspect of the weed question further than to remark, that a garden owes much of its charm and neatness to its order, cleanliness, and entire absence of weeds. TECHNICAL EDUCATION AT GORDON’S COLLEGE, ABERDEEN.