146 MY GROWING GARDEN 



ground to certain plants they considered not weeds, 

 was the beginning of culture. From Dr. Bailey's 

 angle of view, the Colorado potato beetle, the 

 San Jose scale, and all weeds, are blessings in dis- 

 guise, because they force upon lazy humanity 

 action which has other results than those imme- 

 diately aimed at. To the average slouchy "hired- 

 man," the demand for the "dust mulch" of proper 

 cultivation seems unreasonable and absurd, as I 

 know from more than one experience. 



At first I had no trouble in having plenty of 

 inducement to cultivate, for in this old garden, 

 neglected for more than a dozen years before I 

 tackled it, there were vast reserves of weed seeds 

 to keep germinating. After my ruthless slaughter 

 had begun to make an impression on the shepherd's 

 purse, the docks, the "pusly," the button-weed, 

 and the other fifty-seven varieties of plants out of 

 place, I had to contend with the contributions of 

 the wind, which blew over nearby neglected pas- 

 tures, thickly overgrown with wild carrot, many 

 asters, goldenrods and the like. Now the opening 

 of streets, the partial building up of the neighbor- 

 hood, and most of all, two years of intensive cul- 

 ture of the worst nearby weed patch as a boys' 

 garden, has reduced the wind contributions materi- 

 ally. It is no longer difficult to keep weeds out, 



