Description of the Burdock. 135 



The burdock sends a strong tap root 

 down into the soil wherever the natural or 

 artificial drainage is good, hence it does not 

 suffer readily from dry weather. The root 

 as shown in the sketch is broken off. The 

 burdock comes into flower chiefly in the 

 months of June and July, but more espe- 

 cially in the latter month. If cut off above 

 the crown, even after the seed pods are 

 formed, young shoots will be thrown up 

 around the parent stem, and seed be 

 matured sometimes within a few inches of 

 the surface of the ground, and even many 

 weeks after the harvest season is over. 

 It is forgetfulness of this fact, more than 

 anything else, which allows this plant so 

 long to retain its hold in our fields. 



The burdock will grow in nearly all soils 

 that are free from ground water. No other 

 weed, perhaps, is found in so many of the 

 provinces and states of our continent. It 

 is pre-eminently the weed of the outlying 

 and neglected portions of cities, towns and 

 villages, and it is much prone to intrench 

 itself along the fence borders and in the 

 waste places of the farm, but it does not 

 give much trouble where the soil is well 

 cultivated. 



