CHAPTER I. 



THE PREVALENCE OF WEEDS. 



"Cursed is the ground for thy sake ; in 

 sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of 

 thy life; thorns also and thistles shall it 

 bring forth to thee ; and thou shalt eat the 

 herb of the field." So reads the doom that 

 was hurled down the centuries from the 

 gates of Eden, when man was ejected from 

 a paradise lost, to earn his bread by the 

 sweat of his brow. From that day to the 

 present weeds have followed in the foot 

 prints of man. He no sooner pitches his 

 tent or builds his more permanent home 

 than they entrench themselves around it. 

 He no sooner commences to till the soil 

 than they commence to dispute its posses- 

 sion with the plants that he sows, and thus 

 they harass and perplex him, and compli- 

 cate all his best devised methods for sub- 

 duing the earth. 



It is true at the same time that in lands 

 that have never been tilled, we find some 



Library 

 N. C, State Collej^© 



