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 
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.* Fic. 130. Cudweed. 
Fic. 129. Wild rose. 
*“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.) 
