90 THE FIRE-WEED AND THE CANADA THISTLE. 



covered as usual every open space in the woods over 

 which the fire had run during the previous year ; showing 

 how grateful the ashes of the burned trees and under- 

 wood are to the seeds of these plants with which the soil 

 everywhere must abound. 



When land is cleared by burning for agricultural pur- 

 poses, these plants cover the ground if it is neglected 

 during the ensuing spring ; but after the land has been 

 ploughed they disappear, and the Canada thistle and the 

 hemp-nettle come up, and become troublesome weeds. 

 Everywhere in the provinces, and in New England, the 

 Canadian thistle is heard of as the pest of the farm. It is 

 our common creeping-thistle, Cnicus arvensis^ or Circium 

 arvense^ which has found a most congenial climate in 

 North America. The common spear-thistle is a trouble- 

 some weed, but, being a biennial, can be extirpated with 

 comparatively little labour ; but the Canada thistle is 

 perennial, has deep and wide-spreading roots, is very 

 tenacious of life, and commits its seed annually to the 

 winds, and thus defies the labours of individual farmers. 

 Only a general spread of cleanly husbandry will extirpate 

 it from a district in which it has once established itself. 

 Even legislation is disregarded by this rebellious plant. 

 A few years ago (1847) the New Brunswick legislature 

 passed an act, entitled " An act to prevent the growth of 

 thistles^^^ which was limited in its application to the 

 county of Gloucester ; but the refractory weed has since 

 only spread the more, and given increased annoyance even 

 in the county the act was intended especially to benefit. 



After a couple of hours' drive, we made a detour of 

 several miles for the purpose of visiting the village of 

 Stanley, one of the principal settlements of the New 

 Brunswick and Nova Scotia Land Company. We were 

 hospitably received by Lieut. Colonel Hayne, the resident 

 agent of the company, who accompanied me over several 

 of the farms and clearings. 



