568 Handbook of Nature-Study 



heads are very pretty and the skillful child weaver makes them into 

 beautiful baskets. When I was a small girl, I made whole sets of 

 furniture from these flowers; and then, becoming more ambitious, wove 

 some into a coronet which I wore proudly for a few short hours, only to 

 discover later, from my own experience, that great truth which Shake- 

 speare voiced, "uneasy lies the head that wears the crown." 



In winter, the tough, gray stalks of the burdock still stand; although 

 they may partially break, if they can thus better accomplish their pur- 

 pose, always falling toward the path. In this way, they may be sure of 

 inserting the hooks of their seed storehouses into the clothing or covering 

 of the passer-by; and when one gets a hold, mayhap a dozen others will 

 hold hands and follow. If they catch the tail of horse or cow, then indeed 

 they must feel their destiny fulfilled ; for the animal, switching about with 

 its uneasy appendage, threshes out the seeds, and unheedingly plants 

 them by trampling them into the ground. Probably some of the live- 

 stock of our Pilgrim Fathers came to America thus burdened; for the 

 burdock is a European weed, although now it flourishes too successfully 

 in America. The leaves of the burdock are bitter, and are avoided by 

 grazing animals. Fortunately for us, certain flies and other insects like 

 their bitter taste, and lay eggs upon them, which hatch into larvse that 

 live all their lives between the upper and lower surfaces of the leaf. Often 

 the leaves are entirely destroyed by the minute larvae of a fly, which live 

 together cozily between these leaf blankets, giving the leaves the appear- 

 ance of being afflicted with large blisters. 



The burdocks have long vigorous taproots, and it is therefore difficult 

 to eradicate them without much labor. But persistent cutting off the 

 plant at the root will, if the cut be deep, finally discourage this determined 

 weed. 



Baskets made from the burdock flower-heads. 



