28 THE INDIANA WEED BOOK. 



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sary to its existence. Yes, farmers grow plants, but how many of 

 them know the parts of a flower, the duties of each part? How 

 many of them can take a book and determine for themselves the 

 name and place of a new plant which has appeared on their farms 

 and so know whether it is harmless or- aggressive? Our most 

 noxious, our vilest weeds can now never be wholly eradicated, but 

 can only be subjugated and kept in partial control. They are here 

 and here to stay. Had the farmers of the past known their real 

 character and recognized the plants on their first appearance they 

 would have postponed all other business until they were destroyed. 

 As it is, the farmers of the future must wage an eternal warfare 

 against them, for they have secured a foothold which cannot be 

 entirely overcome. True, a new species possessing characters 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 these foreign weeds existed in the State. Then was the time to 

 have successfully quarantined that species by destroying those 

 pioneers. The few persons on whose land they appeared neglected 

 them, and every gardener, every farmer, yea, every land owner in 

 the State most henceforth, now and forever, pay the penalty for 

 that neglect by continued 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 be- 

 comes 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, will become a curse to the State. 



MEDICINAL PROPERTIES OF WEEDS. 



A number of our most noxious weeds possess valuable medicinal 

 properties and have been used for centuries in the manufacture of 

 drugs. Although the weeds so used were most of them introduced 

 from Europe and the American farmer has had to fight some of 

 them for nearly four hundred years, he has not been thrifty 

 enough to gather them for the drug trade. In Europe, where 



