ey 2— > 
Burdock, 
Lappa major. Naturar Orper: Composite— Aster Family. 
Per 
o 
oF UDGED by the popular verdict, the Burdock is an unattractive 
i weed, one of the coarsest and most obnoxious of the plants that 
* infest the roadsides, barnyards and fields, yet the roots are used in 
medicine as a tonic and alterative and to produce a gentle per- 
spiration. The leaves are large, often nearly two feet long, with 
coarse cords or veins running through them, and the entire plant * 
is pervaded by a bitter, disagreeable odor and taste. It grows about 
® three or four feet in height, and is pyramidal in shape. The burrs 
fee ave the most disagreeable part, as each little scale that forms the 
@ floral sheath is armed with a hook, by which it fastens to anything 
y eS it may touch, and if ripe and dry it adheres most tenaciously. It 
© is a naturalized plant from Europe, and blooms in July and August. 
The flowers are a delicate pink. 
Provimity Undesirable, 
HERE is some soul of goodness in things evil, 
Would men observingly distil it out; 
For our bad neighbors make us early stirrers, 
Which is both healthful and good husbandry, 
—Shakespeare. 
TO my chimney’s shrine Forthwith his bow he bent, 
Brought him, as Love professes, And wedded string and arrow, 
And chafed his hands with mine, And struck me, that it went 
And dried his dripping tresses. Quite through my heart and marrow. 
But when that he felt warmed; Then laughing loud, he flew 
Let’s try this bow of ours, Away, and thus said, flying: 
And string, if they be harmed, Adieu, mine host, adieu! 
Said he, with these late showers. T'll leave thy heart a-dying. 
—Anacreon, 
H! charming isle in the warm, green sea! 
O sirens! tempting me to wrong, 
What value have your meads to me? ii 
—Fames Maurice Thompson, 
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