146 HOME LIFE IN FLOKIDA. 



constantly employed among the flowers and small fruit 

 trees and grass j^lats around the house, the weeds will 

 gather headway and soon choke the more delicate plants to 

 death, and that wicked, irrepressible sand-spur grass, with 

 its tall tufts of sharp, stiff, hooked points, that puncture 

 like a needle, and hold fast with a tenacity of purpose 

 that we might admire under other circumstances, will 

 quickly take possession of the territory and make pedes- 

 trians unhappy, especially those who are unfortunate 

 enough to wear skirts. One might well liken these van- 

 dals of the Florida soil to an uneasy conscience, ' ' their 

 prick" is sharp enough surely. 



They are called "spurs" rather sarcastically it w^ould 

 seem, since their effect is to retard progress rather than to 

 spur it on. They are bad enough in the field or grove, 

 but they become intolerable around the house, and so, 

 since they and other obstreperous weeds flourish during 

 nine months of the year, and require constant watchful- 

 ness to keep them under subjection, it is better to throw 

 most of the battle ujjon the plow outside of the garden 

 gate ; for, in a family where the means are wanting to hire 

 a man or boy by the month, the burden of keeping such 

 "useless trash" as flowers or vines in order will be cast 

 by the busy men folks upon their more delicate companions 

 who are more alive to their actual utility as home attrac- 

 tions. 



Those who have come from the old-settled, thoroughly 

 civilized portions of the North or West, or indeed of the 

 South, will almost inevitably experience a sense of dismay 

 and hopelessness at the prospect of the long struggle be- 

 fore them, when they behold a wilderness of oak or pine 

 trees rearing their heads aloft on the very spot selected for 

 their home. Where a place can be purchased with im- 

 provements already started it is a great gain ; but the ma- 



