178 MY GROWING GARDEN 



gone wrong. It is an annual with the well-devel- 

 oped habits of the really criminal weed class; that 

 is, like dandelion, orange hawkweed (thank heaven, 

 I have none of that terror!), and the plantains, it 

 will accommodate itself to any condition, and 

 bloom under the lawn-mower or a foot high, accord- 

 ing to opportunity. And how it seeds and spreads ! 

 The west garden plot, the soil of which I had to 

 make from raw, rough shale, was its favorite 

 growing spot, and it got in its fine work when I 

 had that in winter vetch over a season, for obtain- 

 ing humus and nitrogen. The shepherd's-purse 

 (the name is absurd !) came up through the vetch, 

 and the only thing to do was to pull, pull, pull ! One 

 merit the weed does have; its top is well fastened 

 to the long tap-root by which it prospers in any 

 drought, and if it is grasped by this and twisted a 

 bit, you can really get it out in moist weather. I 

 developed a continuous back-ache pulling shep- 

 herd's-purse on wet days; but at last that weed 

 ceased to be of any particular importance. 



Then came the button-weed, that round-leaved 

 perennial which grows nice little "cheeses" about 

 one-sixth inch across — ^which same cheeses I 

 found palatable when I had a boy's omnivorous 

 and continuous appetite. We are told that this 

 mallow harbors the fungus that interferes with the 



