COCKLE BURR, THE ROUGH-NECK 121 



into the field and began husking the corn. The com 

 was quite poor. There was very httle over half a 

 crop, the other half being made up of noxious weeds 

 of all kinds, so it didn't take Jake very long to get 

 over on to the row where Cockle Burr and his friends 

 and companions were, that had now grown to full 

 maturity. As the team went by and Jake husked 

 the nubbins and small ears that had struggled for 

 an existence, one poor little nubbin exclaimed, 

 "Well, I am glad to get away from here and out of 

 this kind of company." 



"You guys got nothing on us. Guess some of us 

 will just go along," retorted several of the new cockle 

 burrs on the big plant, as some of them grabbed the 

 tail of Big Dick, the bay horse, as he brushed by, 

 whUe others hung on to the hair of his fetlock. Then 

 as the wagon came along other burrs clung to the 

 mud on the wheel, as it revolved over the ground, 

 breaking the plant over, and thus started the great 

 distribution of burrs from Farmer Careless's field. 



A few days later Peter Rabbit, in running through 

 the com stalks, encountered the broken-down plant 

 and two burrs grabbed him as he hopped along. 

 These stayed with Peter for several days, until he 

 lost them across the road in Farmer Brown's field 

 of clover. Farmer Brown hated cockle burrs as he 



