WEED 330 WEEK which are annuals or biennials, as char- lock, yellow rattle, and melilot, may gradually be got rid of by merely culti- vating, for a succession of years, such plants as are to be cut before the seeds of the weeds are fully ripe. Perennial weeds, such as couch-grass, can only be removed from the ground by repeated and careful tilling; and for this purpose crops which requii"e much hoeing are ad- vantageously planted, and recourse is had to summer fallowing in fields, and frequent weeding in gardens. Thistles and other large weeds are frequently piilled in cornfields before the corn comes into ear, and to prevent their seeding they are cut in pastui'es. Sedges and rushes, which spring up in great abun- dance in damp grounds, disappear on thorough draining. Leafy crops which thickly cover the soil prevent the growth of many weeds by the exclusion of air and light. Weeds which have been rooted up form excellent compost for ma- nure. Those which make their appear- ance in fallow grounds serve for green manuring when they are plowed down. Cultivated grasses growing in arable fields are weeds there. The seeds of weeds are carried normally by the wind, but may be conveyed by running streams. WEED, THURLOW, an American journalist; born in Cairo, N. Y., Nov. 15, 1797; was employed as a lad in several printing offices; served as a private in the War of 1812; and after- ward edited newspapers in western New York, till in 1830 he founded the Albany "Evening Journal," an anti-Jackson, Whig, or Republican paper, which be- came the organ of the party, and which he controlled for 35 years. He was a leading party manager in State and National politics in 1824-1876, exercis- ing almost supreme influence in nomina- tions and appointments, while declining all offices for himself. He was influential in nominating Harrison in 1836 and 1840, Clay in 1844, Taylor in 1848, and Scott in 1852; with Seward and Greeley con- trolled New York; supported Lincoln and the Civil War; and went for him on a mission to Europe in 1861-1862. In 1867-1868 he was editor of the New York "Commei'cial Advertiser." He wrote "Letters from Europe and the West Indies" (1866) ; "Reminiscences" (in "Atlantic Monthly," 1870) ; "Autobi- ography" (1884). He died in New York City, Nov. 22, 1882. WEED, WALTER HARVEY, an American geologist; born in St. Louis, May 1, 1862; was graduated at Columbia School of Mines in 1883; and was then appointed geologist on the United States Geological Survey. In 1883-1889 he was on the geological survey of the Yellow- stone Park. He discovered that colors in hot springs and deposits in geysers are caused by algae. He also discovered Death Gulch in that park, where bears, elk, etc., are killed by inhaling carbon dioxide gas emitted from an extinct hot spring. In 1889-1898 he was engaged on a general geological exploration of Montana, and made important discov- eries. In 1899 he brought out the first published theory of secondary enrich- ment of ore deposits. He was the author of "Formation of Hot Springs Deposits" J "Laramie and Livingston Formations"; "Glaciation of Yellowstone Park"; "Geology of Castle Mountain Dis- trict"; "Geology of Bear Paw Moun- tains"; "Secondary Enrichment of Min- eral Veins"; "Oi'e Deposits"; etc. WEEHAWKEN, a town in Hudson co., N. J.; on the Hudson river and on the West Shoi'e, and the New York Central, and other railroads; opposite New York City. It contains a public and parochial school, and has two large reservoirs be- longing to the Hackensack Water Com- pany. It is said to be the largest coal shipping depot in the United States, Here are the coal docks of the Erie and Penn- sylvania Railroad Companies and those of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Com- pany. Weehawken is noted as the duel- ing ground of Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr. Pop.(1910) 11,228; (1920) 14,485. WEEK, the space of seven days; the space from one Sunday, Monday, etc., to another; the most obvious and con- venient division of the natural or lunar month. The division of time into weeks did not exist among the aborigines of America when the New World was dis- covered, nor did it exist among the Poly- nesians, the Japanese, or, it is now be- lieved, the Chinese. It is nearly univer- sal in India, and was found thoroughly rooted when the first Christians went to that country. So has it been from a period of high antiquity in Scandinavia, the names of the several days being con- nected with identically the same planets in the two regions; so that, if at noon on Sunday in Sweden one could be trans- ported in a moment to India, he would find it Aditwar (=Sunday) there, and so of any other day in the week. The He- brews, and it is' thought the other Sem- ites, had the institution of weeks, the days apparently being simply numbered first, second, third, etc. During the early centuries of their history the Greeks and the Romans had not the institution of weeks, there having been ancient forgery in connection with Homer's oft-quoted passages on the subject. Dion Cassius,
