“ No other weed is seen in the area and therefore he has been diligent and careful in his tillage. The meadows even if twice or thrice mowed in a season will yet contain year to year the same quantity of Saw Brier. The stems spring up quickly, and grow “a foot in a night” the people say; surely the Saw Brier is the freshest plant in the field. In a case specially noticed a garden spot had been put in cultivation in 1873, and has been continually and thoroughly cultivated every year since, yet the Saw Brier is there to-day. ”

“ The stem of a rhizomatous plant may remain permanently underground, as is the case with all ferns except the tree ferns of the tropics. An annual stem is, however, usually sent to the surface and this may be a lateral branch from the main subterranean stem or it may be a continuation of the rhizome, in which case the next year’s rhizome will be a lateral branch and thus the whole rhizome will be made up of a number of distinct segments. ”

“ One farmer who has two hundred and fifty stands of bees, now that this Bee-plant is well established as a sure crop, will sow no more buckwheat for his bees.
I have said this species is becoming excessively abundant in some (hilly) portions of southern Ohio. It can well be regarded as “a great boon” merely because it is a soil-binder of marked efficiency. It prevents the destructive washing of the hillsides in the Fall, open winter and early spring. Such a plant would not be needed to a great extent, were methods and habits of cultivation perfect or in a high state of development ”

“ Not a book for learning the classification, anatomy, and nomenclature of animals, but to show how animals reached their present development, the effects of environment, their place in Nature, their relations to one another and to the human race. ”

“ A large amount of food material must be stored up by the plant in order to do this, and the food material must be kept from drying or burning up during the heated period. Bulbs and corms, protected as they usually are by dry and coriaceous coverings, answer these requirements and are usually abundant in localities where these conditions obtain. Bulb and corm plants are also well fitted to live in dense woods where the light is soon shut off in the Spring by the expanding leaves of the trees. They are able to spring up very early, flower and ripen seeds before the light is shut off. ”

“ A plant which has no means of migration when it has exhausted the nearby food supply is manifestly at a disadvantage when compared with a progressive rhizome plant which moves every year into a new and fresh location. ”

“ The parent bulb sends out one or more thick rhizomes which grow outward if the bulb is at the normal depth, downward if the bulb is too near the surface of the ground and the new bulbs are formed by the shortening of the outer end and the growth and thickening of the scales of the rhizome. ”

“ While stock will eat the plant when at hand they take but little of it if nutritious grasses can be found. A very intelligent and observant farmer, however, was seen cutting and burning the plants which covered his pastures to save his stock—his neighbor by carelessness in this respect, he averred, having lost some valuable horses. ”

“ The less courageous may well be appalled in contemplating the herculean task. Fortunately swine are fond of the nutritious tubers, and voraciously devour them when they are given the freedom of the field and allowed to indulge in their natural propensities. Heavy coating of manure and winter plowing are also indicated.
Variations in the Leaves.—This form is easily recognized among the several species of Smilax indigenous to Ohio, though the leaves vary in size and shape to a remarkable degree. ”

“ Even at a glance the identity of the specimens in the field could not be mistaken; all their characters showed that they were really Smilax glauca. In herbarium specimens that have been preserved every gradation may be seen between the extremes shown in the plate. These specimens also show in some cases underground stems that bear both leaves and twigs with leaves of the broader form. As a rule in the cornfields where the soil is not rich and crop-cultivation has been diligent the narrower leaves (on shorter stems) are common. ”

“ Both bulbs and corms may be regarded as rhizomes modified to suit peculiar conditions, such as a long, dry, heated period alternating with a short, rainy period. A plant to survive under such conditions must be able to start up very quickly as soon as the rains come, and flower and mature its seeds before the drouth again overtakes it. ”

“ The Iris group are exceptions, in that they travel in a circle. The reason seems to be that the lateral branches which continue the rhizome from year to year mostly arise on the same side of the terminal bud, so that each branch goes off at a slight angle to the former branch. The degree of angle determines the size of the resulting circle. One class of rhizome plants is very distinct and requires especial mention. This class may be termed upright or retrogressive rhizome plants. The upright rhizome may originate from a progressive rhizome, or from a crown former or in some other [Pg 23] way. ”

“ Petioles of the Cottonwood.—The leaves of the Cottonwood as well as some other species of Populus have an interesting light relation. If one looks at a vigorous shoot, the leaves are seen to be arranged in the profile position around the stem. This is accomplished by means of a very simple device. The petiole is much flattened next to the blade and is quite flexible. The flattening is transverse to the plane of the blade and on this account the leaf will assume the vertical position, no difference in what way it is attached or twisted. ”

“ It is certainly more abundant than it was before the country was cleared and cultivated; yet after all but little of it is seen in good pastures and vigorous meadows, and none at all in ground that is under thorough and constant cultivation. It has not the aggressiveness possessed by some of our weeds, but it does quickly take possession of neglected and fallow ground. ”

“ There are many roads by which they can pass, the mountains being intercepted by frequent rivers that empty into the Pacific, and have their origin beyond the snow-covered Andes, in the plains of the Argentine Republic. ”

“ The Underground Parts.—This tenacity of life and luxuriance of growth can be understood when the underground parts are examined. There are numerous irregular and often large tubers or enlargements which serve as the capacious storehouse of nourishment. They are often of fantastic shape. ”

“ The forbidding aspect of the long, wiry stems, with their bristly covering of long, saw-like or needle-shaped prickles, serves also to distinguish this plant even among the attractive associates of its kingdom.
A Bad Weed.—As a weed this species here stands at the head of the list. Its horrid prickles make it one of the most disagreeable plants with which to come in contact. It revels in the pastures and clambers over the fences; it flourishes in the meadows and fields, and no ordinary practice of crop-cultivation interferes with its [Pg 25] luxuriance. ”

“ The first and most important advantage is the protection from frost which this habit affords. By taking up this habit many plants have been able to withstand a climate, which would otherwise prove fatal. ”