BURS AND BEGGAR' S-TICKS. 



71 



fall into numerous 



flattened seedlike bod- 

 ies, or achenia, each 



one of which is 



crowned with two or 



more stiff, needlelike, 



and barbed awns. Few 



" stickers " are more 



annoying than these 



" beggar's-ticks " of 



the bur - marigold. 



There is not a patch of 



low tangle that is not 



full of them, and one 



can scarcely pass by 



such places without 



bearing away a closely 



clinging horde of the 



pests. In the drier 



woods of the uplands 



a familiar species of 



bur-marigold is abun- 

 dant, with longer and more slender achenia, which are known as 



" Spanish needles." 



Among the larger burs that 

 gather on us in the fall are 

 those of two composite plants 

 the burdock and the cockle- 

 bur. They are both weeds of 

 waste places, coarse and ill- 

 looking, springing up in rank 

 abundance about pigpens, barn- 

 yard fences, and the dump 

 heaps of open lots. The re- 

 deeming virtue of the burdock 

 is its purple flower heads 

 crowning the bristly green in- 

 volucres, which in childhood 

 days were plucked to make 

 " buz-baskets." The larger and 

 coarser cocklebur, with its 



armament of strong hooks, is another of Dr. Gray's "vile weeds," 



wrapping itself inextricably among the hair and wool of the dog or 



sheep that unwittingly strays into its domain. 



Svr. Jf/trrj Id . 



ST. 



