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CHAPTER VIII. 

 THE STEM. 



I. AS I read over again, with a fresh mind, the 

 last chapter, I am struck by the opposition 

 of states which seem best to fit a weed for a weed's 

 work, — stubbornness, namely, and flaccidity. On 

 the one hand, a sternness and a coarseness of 

 structure which changes its stem into a stake, and 

 its leaf into a spine ; on the other, an utter flacci- 

 dity and ventosity of structure, which changes its 

 stem into a riband, and its leaf into a bubble. And 

 before we go farther — for we are not yet at the 

 end of our study of these obnoxious things — we had 

 better complete an examination of the parts of a 

 plant in general, by ascertaining what a Stem proper 

 is ; and what makes it stiffer, or hollower, than 

 we like it ; — how, to wit, the gracious and generous 

 strength of ash differs from the spinous obstinacy 

 of blackthorn, — and how the geometric and enduring 

 hollowness of a stalk of wheat differs from the soft 

 fulness of that of a mushroom. To which end, I 

 will take up a piece of study, not of black, but 

 white, thorn, written last spring. 



