THE BRAMBLES OF THE FARM 



299. 



for observing the mutual helpfulness 

 of many of the wild things in nature. 

 At the edges of the clump, the adven- 

 turous new bramble sprouts, ventur- 

 ing out too far, are cropped with the 

 grass by the cattle: but, wherever 

 a stem has lived to harden its thorns, 

 close by it new sprouts may raise 

 their heads in safety. So may other 

 herbage also, some common asso- 

 ciates of the brambles, being cudweed 

 and goldenrod and bracken fern and 

 elder. The seeds of the last named 

 are doubtless planted also by the 

 birds. The grass grows tall in a peri- 

 pheral zone among the canes, and 

 under its matted 

 tufts numerous 



Fig. 129. Wild rose. 



runways of 

 meadow mice are to be found. And it 

 is a poor brier patch, even tho it be a 

 small one, that does not shelter the door 

 of a deep burrow of some family of 

 woodchucks, skunks or rabbits. Lovers 

 of Uncle Remus will remember that Brer 

 Rabbit proclaimed the brier-patch to 

 be the place of his nativity.* 



Fig. 130. Cudweed. 



*"Co'se Brer Fox wanter hurt Brer Rabbit bad ez he kin, so he cotch 

 'im by de behime legs, en slung 'im right in de middle er de brier-patch. 

 Dar wuz a considerbul flutter whar Brer Rabbit struck de bushes, en- 

 Brer Fox sorter hang 'roun' fer ter see w'at wuz gwineter happen. 

 Bimeby he hear some body call 'im, en way up de hill he see Brer Rabbit 

 settin' cross-legged on a chinkapin log koamin' de pitch outen his har 

 wid a chip. . . . Brer Rabbit . . . holler out: "Bred en 

 bawn in a brier-patch, Brer Fox — bred en bawn in a brier-patch !" — 

 Harris {Uncle Remus, p. 18.) 



