Democratic Sentinel, Volume 5, Number 30, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 September 1881 — Vegetable Tramps. [ARTICLE]

Vegetable Tramps.

One is tempted to say that the most human plants are the weeds. They are nature’s makeshifts. Germs lie in the soil and resist the stimulating effect of the sun and the rain for years, and show no sign. Presently something whispers to them, “ Arise, your chance has come; the coast is clear,” and they are up and doing in a twinkling. Weeds are the tramps of the vegetable world. They go east, west, north and south; they walk, they fly, they swim, they steal a ride; they travel by rail, by flood, by wind; they go under ground, across lots and by the highway. But weeds have this nature: They are not easily discouraged; they never lose heart entirely; they die game. If they cannot hove the best, they will take up with the poorest; if they cannot lord it over a corn hill, they will sit humbly at its foot and accept what comes. In all cases they make the most of their opportunities.