THE COLTSFOOT 



like miniature fairy lights ; no other plants have 

 yet dared to venture so far. The farmer has gone 

 off to consider further his plans of attack, but, 

 unless he lays down his leaflet and gets to work 

 quickly, the coltsfoot will have delivered a very 

 successful assault. Every one of those ripe flower- 

 heads is to-day fully opened ; for the weather is 

 fine, and fine weather, so early in the year, means 

 a great deal to the coltsfoot. A few fine days at 

 the beginning of February will insure the sowing 

 of its seeds by the end of the month — long before 

 most plants have awakened from their winter 

 sleep. And at the business of disseminating its 

 offspring, the coltsfoot probably stands unex- 

 celled. 



The coltsfoot is one of the most successful, and 

 one of the most enterprising, weeds of my ac- 

 quaintance. In the course of its development it 

 has had to '' rough it." There is nothing fastidious 

 about it; its success is plainly due to hard work. 

 Given the poorest and heaviest of clay soils, it goes 

 vigorously to work, and soon is flourishing ; 

 abundant moisture is its one and only demand. 

 From the surface of the damp and chilly clay, to 

 which its ancestors in their struggle for existence 

 have been driven, it now proudly holds up its 

 flower-heads. 



Few plants can attack it in its strong- 

 hold, for a hardy constitution is needed in these 

 cold, retentive soils. The coltsfoot itself, however, 

 often encroaches on the domains of other plants, 

 especially in moist situations, and usually at the 



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