252 GLEANINGS FROM NATURE. 



there is no method. They are here and here to stay. 

 The farmers of the future must wage an eternal war- 

 fare against them, for they have secured a foothold 

 which can not be entirely overcome. True, a new 

 species possessing advantages which will enable it to 

 crowd them out, may, in time, appear, but such a 

 change would very likely be for the worst. 



There was a time when but one, two, or a dozen 

 plants of each of the foreign weeds existed in the 

 State. Then was the time to have successfully quar- 

 antined that species by destroying those pioneers. 

 The few persons on whose lands they appeared neg- 

 lected them, and every gardener, every farmer, yea, 

 every land owner in the State, must henceforth, now 

 and forever, pay the penalty of that neglect by con- 

 tinued hoeing, plowing and mowing to keep these 

 alien weeds in subjugation. 



As long as the rudiments of botany are not taught 

 in the common schools the average farmer will be 

 unable to tell whether a new plant which has made 

 its appearance upon his land should be allowed to 

 grow or not ; in fact, in many instances, he will not 

 know that a new plant is there until it becomes too 

 abundant to be easily overcome. Put a high school 

 into each township in the State; teach the elements 

 of botany therein and then, and not till then, may we 

 hope that the farmers of the future will be on the 

 lookout for all new plants ; will be able at once to 

 judge their relative injuriousness; and will destroy, 

 before they have time to ripen their seeds, those 

 species which, if allowed to spread, would become a 

 curse to the State. 



