One can imagine no more irrepressible rabble 

 than these weeds of the garden. They seem pos- 

 sessed almost of a conscious life, and to push and 

 shove and scramble for place like a hard-headed, 

 thick-skinned, piratical crew. Many of them are 

 immigrants, the riffraff of Europe, who have 

 found their way to our shores, some to become 

 good citizens, and others to remain pestilent anar- 

 chists, opposed to the law and order of the kitchen- 

 garden and rebelling against all government by the 

 hoe. Yet how happy are the bob-whites and the 

 tree-sparrows for the poor seeds of the ragweed 

 when the snow lies deep. They repair to these as 

 to an unfailing larder, which may lie between 

 them and starvation at such times. Through some 

 kind providence, the seeds remain into the winter 

 to be shaken down upon the snow. The obnoxious 

 weed of summer rises to the dignity of usefulness 

 and becomes a food plant — grain and corn to the 

 hungry bjirds. 



There are weeds and there are weeds. So much 

 depends upon the point of view ; is it a weed on 

 the lawn, or is the lawn but a background for the 

 dandelions which star the grass ? What bright day- 

 stars are these which beam upon us from the 

 70 



