FRIENDS AND ENEMIES 
43 
the prairie, some of the little burrs hook onto 
the boy’s stockings, and others catch on the 
dog’s hair. Later on the boy pulls the burrs 
off. Perhaps he will pull them off the dog too. 
If he doesn’t, the dog will have to bite them off, 
for they are sure to bother him. If the burrs 
happen to drop on the ground in a good place, 
they will take root and begin to grow, not right 
away, of course, but the next spring. If they 
are taken off in the house or drop on the side¬ 
walk, they are lost. The parent plant makes 
provision for many of its seeds being lost; so it 
produces a great many more than ever can grow. 
That is why each burdock plant has such big 
bunches of burrs. 
The burdock is not the only plant that sends 
out its seeds in this way. There is the cockle- 
bur. That is the plant with the good-sized 
burr which has a great many rather fine spikes. 
The burdock burr is smaller, with a few heavier, 
sharp-pointed hooks. The cocklebur is the 
kind that children often put together in big 
Burrs travel a 
long way 
