A BUNCH OF HERBS 



are carried from one end of the earth to the 

 other, Sir Joseph Hooker relates this cir- 

 cumstance : "On one occasion," he says, 

 "landing on a small uninhabited island 

 nearly at the Antipodes, the first evidence 

 I met with of its having been previously 

 visited by man was the English chickweed ; 

 and this I traced to a mound that marked 

 the grave of a British sailor, and that was 

 covered with the plant, doubtless the off- 

 spring of seed that had adhered to the spade 

 or mattock with which the grave had been 

 dug." 



Ours is a weedy country because it is a 

 roomy country. Weeds love a wide margin, 

 and they find it here. You shall see more 

 weeds in one day's travel in this country 

 than in a week's journey in Europe. Our 

 culture of the soil is not so close and thor- 

 ough, our occupancy not so entire and ex- 

 clusive. The weeds take up with the farm- 

 ers' leavings, and find good fare. One may 

 see a large slice taken from a field by elecam- 

 pane, or by teasle or milkweed ; whole acres 

 given up to whiteweed, goldenrod, wild car- 

 rots, or the ox-eye daisy ; meadows overrun 

 with bear-weed, and sheep pastures nearly 

 ruined by St. John's-wort or the Canada 

 143 



