62 



He listeued incredulously and when I finally told him how a certain 

 mosquito transmitted malaria, lie said, "Now do you really believe all 

 that?" His own belief was that it was all nonsense. 



What is the use of attempting to teach the old farmer? I thought. 

 Perhaps if the school teacher told these things to the farmer's boys it 

 would have some effect. They might see the need for cleaning up every- 

 where. 



It is perhaps unnecessarj' to refer to the experienced florist or horti- 

 culturist whose knowledge enables him to tell from a plant's appearance 

 that it is sickly and needs certain treatment, otherwise it will perish ; or 

 to the physician whose knowledge enables him to quicklj' recognize certain 

 conditions in man and the need for a change. 



Now resurveying the field, one comes to the conclusion that weeds and 

 diseases and ill health exist mainly because we neglect to pay attention to 

 cleanliness. When an epidemic threatens a large city then everybody gets 

 busy and cleans up. There should be constant not periodical cleaning up. 

 We should not allow the existence of waste places where weeds grow 

 which will re-seed the whole country about. No matter how free from 

 weeds a farmer or gardener may keep his own ground, seed ai'e constantly 

 brought in from the surrounding country. It takes a combined eftort to 

 fight weeds. As matters stand, farming and gardening are largely a war- 

 fare against weeds. The same is true in regard to communities and dis- 

 eases. No matter how careful one individual may be the seed of disease 

 constantly comes to him from those v,"ho are sick and diseased. He meets 

 people on the street who come from neglected homes, from the slums 

 vi^here disease and ill health are endemic and from where diseases are 

 carried to all parts of the city. By the way, nearly all the patent medi- 

 cine testimonials we see in the newspapers are signed by people living in 

 such localities. 



We can look at the subject in another light. Many plants adapt them- 

 selves to their environment. Sensitive ones are readily killed off under 

 conditions where weeds continue to flourish, just as many human beings 

 are killed off or driven out where conditions are unsanitary. But , we 

 know to what extent some human beings can live under slum conditions; 

 some must be regarded as human weed.^, such as the Juke and Ishmael 

 families. Like common weeds, they are undesirable. Cleaning up drives 



