AGRICULTURAL AND ECONOMIC CONDITIONS 83 



Canada thistle. I revisited the old farm in 1904 

 and I recognized some of those same thistles that 

 used to torment my bare feet and aching legs, but 

 they were not so rank and vicious as they had been 

 when the land was new and rich. 



Pigeon-weed, redroot corn gromwell was 

 very common and was known by the first name in 

 our region. Two explanations were given for the 

 name : the one arose from the fact that the seeds 

 looked wonderfully like a pigeon's head, while the 

 other and more obvious one was that the pigeons 

 had brought in the seed. During fall and spring 

 enormous flocks of these birds passed over the 

 country in migration to and from their breeding 

 ground. It is known that pigeons, if they have 

 partaken of undesirable food and afterward find 

 better, disgorge the first and feed upon that which 

 is more satisfactory. Stumps and trees left for 

 shade, furnished alighting places from which these 

 birds could view the grain which had not been 

 covered by the primitive wooden-toothed harrow. 

 They " coughed up " their previous meal as the 

 college boys would say and gobbled down the 

 precious seed grain. The weed was seen at first 

 about stumps and under the trees where the pigeons 

 alighted, but it soon became distributed over the 



