WEEDS 



lies in the wide distribution of their seed. The sow this- 

 tle seeds have floaters, and are carried everywhere by the 

 wind. You will see the plants growing on the face of 

 perpendicular banks of clay, and we have to be always 

 watchful to keep them out of our lawns. The other weeds 

 mentioned have, like the mustard, exceedingly numerous 

 small seeds, and in the plant world, as everywhere else, 

 it is often the small things that do the most mischief. In 

 lyOS Angeles and other towns of Southern California, va- 

 cant city lots, and waste places generally, are likely to 

 become small forests of castor-bean or tree tobacco; but 

 it would seem very ungrateful to call these handsome 

 plants weeds. 



On the whole, California is not afflicted to an unusual 

 degree with noxious weeds. Many of the worst plant 

 pests of our Eastern States, such as the Canada thistle, 

 burdock, ragweed, chess, and so forth, have not succeeded 

 here, but others, like the mayweed and dandelion, may 

 gain upon us before we know it. Of European weeds, 

 the morning-glory and Russian thistle threaten to become 

 very troublesome. We need to know weeds and to be 

 constantly watchful for those that are likely to become 

 serious pests. The war with weeds must be unceasing. 

 Cultivated plants have lost the power of caring for them- 

 selves, and we shall always have to protect them against 

 vigorous weeds that have for centuries fought their own 

 way, some of them all the way from the fertile valleys of 

 Asia across two continents to the western shore of the 

 western world.- Work diligently as we may to extermin- 

 ate the weeds from our own fields, there are always waste 

 places, or perhaps the lands of thriftless neighbors, that 

 serve as nurseries for more of these sturdy waifs. 



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