THE WEEDS OF THE EARTH 



weed, winter-weed, milk-weed, cross-weed, 

 crazy-weed, emetic-weed, chicken-weed, cow- 

 weed, bird-weed, ague- weed, the list is indeed 

 long and curious. 



The more one studies the character of these 

 important factors in nature, the more one 

 comes to comprehend their power. They not 

 only compel man to make enormous sacrifice 

 of time in cultivation and of money in the 

 buying of implements to subdue them, but 

 they stand ready, if he make one false neglect- 

 ful step, to ruin him. They do not yield at a 

 single attack, either, for beyond almost all 

 other plants they have the qualities of hardi- 

 ness and persistence. The part they have 

 played, too, all unintentionally, in the develop- 

 ment of man's own self-reliance is not small. 

 As no gain worth the having ever comes with- 

 out struggle, so no step forward on the part of 

 man in his development of the earth can be 

 made without meeting and vanquishing these 

 bitter foes, thus adding measurably to his 

 own strength. As the knowledge of the New 

 Earth has broadened, men have learned that 

 the weeds which were so often neglected in 

 past years must have most serious and earnest 



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