Growing in fields and pastures, in lakes and rivers—and probably at your own doorstep—weeds are found almost everywhere. They may be garden favorites, with large, showy flowers, or useful as medicines and soil holders. But weeds are also nuisance plants that interfere with the growth of valuable crops or are harmful to the health of men and animals.

One of the loveliest garden flowers, tall morning glory, is a damaging weed in cotton fields, where it smothers the crop with its leaves. When cows eat yarrow, the pretty roadside plant, their milk is ruined by its peculiar flavor. The handsome pool plant, water hyacinth, sometimes clogs river navigation so badly that it must be dynamited away.

Mrs. Hogner explains how weeds grow, feed, travel, and reproduce, and how they are controlled. She describes more than forty of these fascinating land and water plants, telling where they grow, when they bloom, how they may be recognized, and why they are classed as weeds.

With accurate and detailed drawings by Nils Hogner, this is a book to delight every young naturalist.

From the dust jacket