160 BUREAU COUNTY, ILLINOIS. 



cities. As these can not safely be left to individual management, 

 neither can we afford to leave this vegetable contagion to indi- 

 vidual ignorance and negligence. The public interest is 

 threatened, and the public alone is compelled to deal with it. 



Because Canada thistles have not spread more rapidly in 

 our State, some hopeful persons profess to think our soil and 

 climate are unfavorable to their growth. This mere theory J 

 should not lull us into a fatal security. It took two years, at ^ 

 an expense of more than fifty dollars, to kill out my patch of a 

 few square rods ; and I do not know that other places Avere 

 more successful. About forty years ago when the Illinois canal 

 was building, a straw bed was emptied near Joliet. Canada 

 thistles made their appearance on this spot, and in spite of 

 much labor against them, they have spread out on the bottom, 

 up the bluff, into a corn field, and the last I heard of them 

 were still "marching on." It is probable that but few of the 

 seeds grow, else we would have been inundated, but a few 

 is enough to endanger us. Once they find a lodgment, they 

 become to agriculture what a cancer is to the human race. 

 Common thistles are a biennial ; they grow from the seeds only. 

 The first year they are a plant ; the second year they shoot up, 

 blossom, bear seed, and die, root and all. The Canada thistle 

 does all this, except the root does not die. This is immortal! 

 Its runners send up new shoots at every favorable place. 

 It holds all it gets, and gets all it can. It thrives best on 

 moderate abuse. If it has not already proved its ability to 

 cope with our climate and soil, a variety will make its appear- 

 ance equal to all emergencies. It will get acclimated and 

 naturalized, and find our rich lands a very comfortable home. 

 If left until they lurk in every by-place, and the ground is 

 saturated with their seeds, ready to spring up on the first fav- 

 orable occasion, their extermination will probably severely tax 

 our endurance. Prevention is safer than cure ! " Eternal 

 vigilance " is alone our safety. 



On my return fiom New York I watched from the window 

 of the flying train to see how far west they had emigrated. I 

 saw them all the way through Canada, and ten miles this side 



