Show I I i I 1 I ITTLE LITTLE JOURNEYS IN I II II I WHITE MANS MAN'S FOOT PLAGUE If Junior would ask a farmer what is the most serious nuisance with which I I he is compelled to te contend he doubtless would say the plantain Uncle Jack served by this plant II It told his nephew Junior There is no good purpose I has no showy flowers it is not eaten by us and cattle caUl shun it for some reason or other It grows abundantly it roots deep in the soil drawing out the plant- plant I forming substances and would if unchecked make our farms unfit for profitable profit able cultivation The plantain continued Uncle Jack is an undesirable visitor i that came from other countries Years ago before North America was so well peopled by white men as it is today the seeds of the plantain came here with the emi emi- emigrants emigrants grants and wherever they made their homes on the prairies and in the backwoods back back- woods s. the up and the Indians gave it a name they name they called il it th the White Mant Foot They merely jested cf of course when they thus hinted that it was the white whits mans man's foot on the earth that caused this plant to spring Ut UD It is very likely that the first plantain that grew in the United States really did spring UD in that In manner but there was no magic in it Probably some En En- I gush farm laborer coming to try his fortune in the tle new country packed up tho the heavy boots in which he had walked behind the plow at home and did not put them on again until he reached the land Ilind of promise Now if we suppose I that a little of the English earth was was clinging to the soles of the boots tho mystery is solved It is almost impossible to take up from our fields as much of the surface soil that will cover over a quarter without having in th t soil a anum number num ber bar n nf the seeds of some of our weeds There are ar two reasons why useless weeds grow so profusely and become a pest to mankind In the first place they produce a great number of seeds which in the ordinary processes of nature would be largely consumed by birds and insects leaving but hut a small number to germinate and prow row into a matur mature plant But birds s are lacking be because au e man has ruthlessly destroyed them and the balance of Nature has been destroyed The second reason for the abundant ant crops of weeds is that they are are of no value as food therefore they are not gathered Suppose now that wheat should be regarded as a weed pest what pest what a great struggle man would have with it iti But we cannot have too much wheat while we can get get along with a very few plantains plantain thistles cockle cockle burs burs and other weed nuisances Some day of course man will find use for these weeds They will be made mad into some useful product such as paper Then we will cultivate them and be enriched by y reason of their rapid growth But just now they are too co common mon to be seriously considered and Nature is giving forth its energies with I no result We W We may set it down as certain my Junior continued Uncle Jack that Nature snakes makes no mistakes She wastes no materials She has reason for forthe the plantain 3 as s she e has for other of her er children Tobacco no doubt v be just as objectionable as the plantain were man not addicted to smoking We have converted this wee weed into a source of grea great wealth and when there ther is a poor season and crops fail farl there is IS bitter mourning among those who cultivate this crop Sugar cane also was once regarded as a nuisance and so were hun hun- dr dreda ds of other plants that are now prized because they yield a valuable product It It is is not for forus us to say that any man or any thing is worthless the most that that wo we dare say is is IS that we know of no purpose that they serve us That is because I we are less wise wise than our common Mother Nature S J |