262 



NATURAL HISTORY OF THE FARM 



be infested with seeds in 

 manure from a weedy 

 barnyard; or with seeds 

 carried in by the stock 

 turned on to feed; or with 

 seeds gathered from a 

 weedy roadside and carried 

 in on wagon wheels. 



The farmer, above all 

 persons, should know that 

 nature will be raising 

 something on every bit of 

 ground; and that if he 

 destroy her more perman- 

 ent crops, that something 

 will be weeds. Weeds fol- 

 low the ax. and the scythe 

 and the plow as summer 

 follows spring. The scythe, 

 especially, is used with too little judgment. The altogether 

 harmless and altogether beautiful goldenrods and asters 

 fringing many a roadside are mown to extermination to 

 make a place for ragw r eeds and mulleins to grow. The 

 native shrubbery under the 

 trees is cut away to make a 

 place for burdocks. Such 

 sort of self-inflicted vandalism 

 destroys the beauty of the 

 farm and increases its drud- 

 gery. If the farmer is so 

 ignorant that every green 



thing, that is not a Crop- PIG. 102. Better than weeds in the fence- 

 , . - . 11 row the maple-leaved viburnum. 



plant, is to him a weed and 



to be treated accordingly, then in increased labor and 



in the sweat of his brow he must pay the cost of his stupidity. 



PIG. 101. Leives of rag-weed at all ages; 

 a seed-leaves; b, c, d, e, successively older 

 leaves; m,n,o,p,q,r,s, leaves successively 

 formed on a fruiting spray; z, a fruiting tip. 



