"THE WHITE MAN'S FOOTSTEP"

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 59, 4 December 1918, Page 9

"THE WHITE MAN'S FOOTSTEP"

ENGLISH FLOWERS"IN. . . . FIELDS, '.' ' .'" ...

Walking alonga country road in that part of thet r nited' State known as New Eiigland/an English persqirwiU every side wild plants reminding him of home. Daisies,"dandelion, tansy, ground-, sorrel, and' VcrireV of others will be/quite, familiar/ , - ; :'' ,"" r "'"''■"'"'' ~'•, I"-'"'.. ".. This country was' settled first by English and Scotch' settlers who' brought withthem wheat and-garden eeeds from ■the Old Country. And ivitft-'theso seeds came weed seeds, so, that now about one : hundred and'thirty -Kinds- of English wild plants are-'cOmmon' in the northern parts of the United''States and in'Gan- • Some weeds, like the plantain, follow tho white man all ovoe the world. Years ago, the Red Indiana gave to ; this weed the name'of "The' Whit- Man's FootIn Bermuda the fields are full of English weeds.. ■ Of. about 250;. specieß of wild-plants in the-islands lees than half, are native. ■■■ ■■•■■■ , Some time .ago a--journal devoted-to botany mentioned the fact that tho common blue English-violet grew in quantities along the Uganda railway where the line crosses' ! tlre-high' range of mountainson its way-to tho great lake. > _ The milk thistle has found its way to . countries eo far. apart as New Zealand and tho Argentine, -. while the common '.Vistle, wrongly.iknQwn as the Scotch thistle, is a perfect"nuiß'ance'in many perls of Australia." ■:. -■■;'■-: Watercress' has; invaded New Zealand, and, growing'to giant 'size, has a.lmost choked many of the shallower riyers. .. In Tasmania the English sweet briar is a pest. It-'grows'to a tremendous size, and spreads in overy direction,, driving ibi roots so deep that it is almost.impossible to : grub it lip. • ■ Tho odd. thing is that cultivated plants ayo often compjeto failures when %ken away from-their original-honied. English sweet peaeeed will grow in Calcutta; but the plants refuse to bloom, while Indian wheat seed grown in an' English field produces no , grain at all. - '