258 NATURAL HISTORY OF THE FARM 



and go wherever the animals carry them. These are less 

 ubiquitous. Other seeds of weeds are distributed with the 

 mud that adheres to the feet of men and animals, and to the 

 wheels of vehicles. This is the chief mode of distribution for 

 our commonest weeds. The seeds become embedded in a 

 thin layer of mud, and when dropped, find themselves well 

 situated for growing. This method properly plants them. 

 They travel, also, with the farmer's cargoes ; with his hay and 

 straw and feed and with his imperfectly winnowed grain; and 

 they are distributed along with these commodities to remote 

 regions. So, in any place, we find the new and unusual 

 weeds, like our western oxybaphus, and the Russian thistle, 

 first appearing along the railroad track, where dropped from 

 passing cars. 



Weeds are such opportunists ; they make the most of small 

 favors. If they can not get more, they will take less. One 

 well-fed cocklebur plant in a rich cornfield may attain an 

 almost treelike stature, and another, whose lot is cast on a 

 barren sand-bar, may not attain a finger-height. But the 

 latter does not give up because soil is barren and water scarce. 

 It may develop only a few leaves and bear only one bur, but it 

 ripens good seed in that bur, and is ready for the next season's 

 opportunity. Dandelions, in rich meadows, grow often knee- 

 high to a man; but on the lawn, after repeated clipping, 

 they will bloom so close to the ground that the mower passes 

 harmlessly over their heads. Morning-glories, finding no 

 trellis at hand, will cheerfully accept a cornstalk in its stead, or 

 in the absence of all support, will spread over the bare ground. 



Nature sows many kinds of seeds in every field. Some of 

 her sowings are welcome, like that of blue-grass in the fields 

 that we are turning into pasture. Most of them come to 

 nought because the seedlings cannot withstand tillage. They 

 fall before the first onslaught of the cultivator. Fortunately for 

 the farmer, this is the fate of nearly all plants that spring from 



