'^ MORALS OF ELMS, WORMS 107 



ness and complete disregard of other people's 

 property rights. Let me explain. 



Some years ago I started out to raise pansies 

 such as for size and beauty had never been 

 equaled in Oxford County. I had two books and 

 several leaflets, besides years of personal experi- 

 ence, to guide me. Nothing was left undone 

 that would make the flowers large, brilliant, and 

 fragrant; but I never had such a wretched lot 

 of pansies in my life. They started out well, 

 but gradually they became smaller until they 

 were not much better than the pert and puny 

 Johnny-jump-ups, the simian ancestors of the 

 pansy. 



Was I disgusted? Puzzled, too. I didn't 

 wait for them to die, but dug them out at once — ■ 

 and what do you suppose I found? A colony 

 of root- eating worms and bugs? Worse than 

 that. The post-mortem revealed a ruthless 

 conspiracy to ruin my flowers. A neighboring 

 elm tree had sent one of its root branches into 

 the center of my bed, and from there a million 

 tiny rootlets radiated in all directions and 

 greedily sucked up the rich plant food and the 

 water I had provided for the pansies. Their 

 tender roots had struggled in vain to hold their 

 own against the Boche invader. 



I am quite aware that an Eiffel Tower elm 

 needs an enormous amount of mineral matter 

 and water — tons of water daily, to be evapo- 

 rated by its countless leaves — have you ever 



