THE PLANT WORLD 111 



star of richest orange yellow ? The farmer ranks it as a weed ; the flower- 

 lover as something very precious. He could ill spare it from the 

 meadows, where it reminds one of Persephone and Enna. Then, can 

 anything be prettier in its combination of colors than that well-recognized 

 weed, the common " butter-and-eggs " ? 



The very best and choicest flowers, then, become weeds when out of 

 place and troublesome. The reverse of this proposition, however, is not 

 true. We have a poor rule here that does not work both ways. The 

 apotheosis of some weeds must be impossible. Who could exalt into 

 garden flowers our wretched pig- weed, or amaranths or cockleburs ; our 

 purslanes and carpet -weeds ? Yet even here we see how narrow is the 

 dividing line ; how much a matter of opinion it is when we place any 

 particular species in this purely arbitrary classification. Our showy 

 garden portulacas are nothing but purslanes glorified. In the hothouses 

 we find Abutilons prized as ornamental shrubs ; on our ash-heaps there 

 is an abutilon despised as a w^eed. It is then purely a question of .situation. 



The very meanest fleck of a flower has beauty incomparable after nature 

 has touched our poor blind eyes and bid us see. City authorities are 

 severely criticised for unsightly ash-heaps and waste lands. We smile 

 serenely, for these are our real parks, our botanical gardens, free to every- 

 body. In the municipal inclosures authority has carefully eradicated all 

 the native or curious growths. It is only on these elysian ash-heaps you 

 will find them. Here thrive, side by side, the escaped exotic and the 

 native herb. And how they do grow ! If in your unsuspecting heart 

 you endeavor to reproduce the conditions in your own garden you will 

 fail. It is only accident that can mix the heterogeneous elements — tin- 

 cans, wash-boilers, stove-pipes, broken crockery, cast-off bottles, tomato- 

 cases, ashes, lime, and broken bricks — into a fertilizing compost. A curi- 

 ous laboratory is here, in which are mystifying chemical affinities. At 

 any rate, here the sunflower uplifts its glorious disk, the morning glory 

 pitches its silken tents, and the hemp entices the wandering yellow bird. 

 And all the tangle of weeds and flowers, creeping, ascending, erect, are 

 as vigorous again as if he had tried to grow them. 



The truth will out ; we love weeds ! There is no abnormal doubling, 

 no fancy distortion about them. They grow as they were designed to, 

 with an occasional sport, perhaps, but if so, one which is vigorously held 

 to an account. For in plant nature conserv^atism is the rule. Innova- 

 tions are looked upon with disfavor. Dangerous doctrines are examined, 

 and the law is made, not to benefit an individual or a class, but to advance 

 the race. We pity any weak brother who enters this field of competition. 

 He must grow as do others ; elbow his way ; assert his quality ; perhaps 

 claim and prove his superiority, or go to the wall. It is vae victis — step 

 on the fallen ; exorcise the puny. 



