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same weeds in fields, and I tbeu coiicluded that that seed had been im- 

 ported from Germany. Moreover, while traveling through different coun- 

 tries in Europe I saw a number of weeds that I instantly recognized, 

 because I had seen them at home as immigrants. There were many that I 

 expected would come to Indiana in time — and they are coming ; new ones 

 appear every year. This summer, for instance, I found a little composite 

 plant (Galinsoga parviflora) — it has no common name — about Longcliff. I 

 had seen the plant about Berlin ; the German botanies stated that it had 

 been introduced from western South America. I have been wondering 

 whether the plants at Longcliff had come from Germany or direct from 

 western South America. It would be interesting to know the facts. 



Several years ago I had as a patient an old farmer who came to an 

 adjoining county when the country was first settled. He gave me many 

 facts regarding early conditions ; how the dense forest had to be cut down 

 and clearings made; how the small truck patch required very little atten- 

 tion because there were no weeds, but in time weeds gradually came in 

 and then the farmer had to fight weeds just as now in the Kankakee region. 

 He also told of the coming in of pests and parasites of all kinds, including 

 rats and mice, lice on animals, and blights and rusts on plants. ?Ie remem- 

 bered when the peach blight first came, proving very destructive to peach 

 trees. Unfortunately I kept no record of dates. I have often regretted 

 that I did not make memoranda because these are matters for which we 

 must rely more and more on what is already recorded in the books. 



I live on a four-acre lot at the edge of town. In front of the house 

 thei-e is the lawn; in the rear along the river there is pasture; on one side 

 there is the garden and on the other the orchard. Then there is the bam 

 lot and also a. neglected bit of laud. (There are also two little plots, one for 

 wild flowers and another for plants grown from seed brought from foreign 

 countries.) There is a variety of habitats for plants and it is interesting to 

 note how some flourish in one situation and some in another. The move- 

 ment of plants is, of course, constantly interfered with by cultivation and 

 weeding, notably in the garden and on the lawn. Some weeds are very 

 resistent; in the barn lot, in spite of one or two cuttings every year, the 

 Jimson weed and the Spinj'- ximaranth continue to grow; every year there 

 are two or three plants. In the pasture again there is a small patch of 

 Canada Thistles. This plot has been rut down and plants hoed down two 

 or three times every year for the past eight years, and still the thistles 



