A BUNCH OF HERBS 



it foregoes its tall stalk and wide flaunt- 

 ing growth, and turns all its energies into 

 keeping up the succession of the species. 

 Certain fields under the plow are always 

 infested with "blind nettles," others with 

 wild buckwheat, black blindweed, or cockle. 

 The seed lies dormant under the sward, the 

 warmth and the moisture affect it not until 

 other conditions are fulfilled. 



The way in which one plant thus keeps 

 another down is a great mystery. Germs 

 lie there in the soil and resist the stimulat- 

 ing effect of the sun and the rains for years, 

 and show no sign. Presently something 

 whispers to them, " Arise, your chance has 

 come ; the coast is clear ; " and they are 

 up and doing in a twinkling. 



Weeds are great travelers ; they are, in- 

 deed, the tramps of the vegetable world. 

 They are going east, west, north, south ; 

 they walk ; they fly ; they swim ; they steal 

 a ride ; they travel by rail, by flood, by wind ; 

 they go under ground, and they go above, 

 across lots, and by the highway. But, like 

 other tramps, they find it safest by the 

 highway : in the fields they are intercepted 

 and cut off ; but on the public road, every 

 boy, every passing drove of sheep or cows, 



139 



