FIELD AND STUDY 



worse than useless plant! So far as I know, nothing 

 wants it or profits by it, though I have heard that 

 the petioles when cooked suggest salsify. It is 

 an Ishmaelite among plants. Every man's hand 

 is against it, and nearly every animal has reason 

 to detest it. Against their wills they are engaged 

 in sowing its seeds. The other day I found some 

 burrs matted on the tail of a woodchuck. Birds 

 have been found trapped by its hooks. Apparently 

 the only domestic animal that it does not seize hold 

 of is the pig; the stiff, smooth bristles of the pig 

 afford it a scant hold. It possesses more original sin 

 than any other plant I know. How it drives its roots 

 into the ground, defying your spading-fork! How it 

 seems to drive its burrs into your garments, or into 

 the hair of animals, refusing to let go till it is fairly 

 torn in pieces! See the dog biting them out of his 

 hair with a kind of contemptuous fury. If you try 

 to help him, you must proceed very carefully and 

 deliberately or he will confound you with the bur- 

 dock and threaten the hand that seeks to aid him. 

 The burdock is vicious to the last, the old burr 

 clings with the same dogged determination as the 

 new. As a noxious weed it is a great success. Dis- 

 courage it by cutting it down you cannot. By hook 

 or by crook it is bound to persist. Its juice is bitter 

 and its fibre coarse. What a pity that so much na- 

 tive grit and enterprise cannot be turned to some 

 good account! The burrs are detached from the 



34 



