Having been instructed in the decorative
usefulness of all this genus by European landscape gardeners, we
Americans now importune the Department of Agriculture for seeds
through members of Congress, even Representatives of States that
have passed stringent laws against the dissemination of "weeds."
Inasmuch as each black-eyed Susan puts into daily operation the
business methods of the white daisy (q.v.), methods which have
become a sort of creed for the entire composite horde to live by,
it is plain that she may defy both farmers and legislators. Bees,
wasps, flies, butterflies, and beetles could not be kept away
from an entertainer so generous; for while the nectar in the
deep, tubular brown florets may be drained only by long, slender
tongues, pollen is accessible to all. Anyone who has had a jar of
these yellow daisies standing on a polished table indoors, and
tried to keep its surface free from a ring of golden dust around
the flowers, knows how abundant their pollen is. There are those
who vainly imagine that the slaughter of dozens of English
sparrows occasionally is going to save this land of liberty from
being overrun with millions of the hardy little gamins that have
proved themselves so fit in the struggle for survival.
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