r5S NATURAL HISTORY OF THE FARM 



and t;() wh(.Te\-c'r the anuuals carry them. These arc less 

 ubiquitous. Other seeds of weeds are distributed with the 

 nuid tliat adheres to the feet of men and animals, and to the 

 wheels of veliicles. This is the chief mode of distributi(jri for 

 oiu* coi'.unonest weeds. The seeds become embedded in a 

 thin la\'er of mud, and when dro])]K^d, find themselves well 

 situated for growing. This method properly plants them. 

 They travel, also, with the fanner's cargoes ; with his ha\' and 

 straw and feed and with his im]:)erfeetly winnowed grain; and 

 they are distrilnited along with these commcxUties to remote 

 regions. So, in any place, we find the new and unusual 

 weeds, like cur western oxybaphus, and the Russian tliistle, 

 first appccLving along the railroad track, where dropped from 

 passing cars. 



Weeds are such opportunists ; the>' make the most of small 

 favors. If they can not get more, they will take less. One 

 well-fed cocklebtu- plant in a rich cornfield may attain an 

 almost treelike stature, and another, whose lot is cast on a 

 barren sand-bar, may not attain a finger-height. Bvit the 

 latter does not give up because soil is barren and water scarce. 

 It may develop only a few lea\'es and bear only one bur, but it 

 ripens good seed in that bur, and is ready for the next season's 

 opportunity. Dandelions, in rich meadows, grow often knee- 

 hi^h to a man; but on the lawn, after repeated clipping, 

 they will bloom so close to the ground that the mower ]3asses 

 harmlessly over their heads. Morning-glories, finding no 

 trellis at hand, mil cheerfully accc])t a conistalk in its stead, or 

 in the absence of all support, will s])read over the bare ground. 



Nature sows many kinds of seeds in e\ery field. Some of 

 her sowings are welcome, like that of blue-grass in the fields 

 that we are turning into pasture. Most of them come to 

 nought because the seedlings cannot withstand tillage. They 

 fall before the first onslaught of the cailti valor. Fortunately for 

 the faniK-r, this is the fate of nearly all plants that spring from 



