that is the thistle."

"You mean the regular thistle, such as is known in England and the
United States?"

"I refer particularly to the Scotch thistle," said the gentleman, "which
is not particularly unlike the other thistles with which we are
familiar. You know that the thistle is the emblem of Scotland, and may
be said to be worshipped by all patriotic Scotchmen. Well, it happened
that a Scotch resident of Melbourne, while visiting the old country,
took it into his head to carry a thistle with him on his return to
Australia. So he placed the plant in a pot and watered it carefully
every day during the voyage from London to Melbourne. When he arrived
his performance was noticed in the newspapers, and a subscription dinner
was arranged in honor of the newly arrived plant. About two hundred
Scotchmen sat down to the dinner, at which the thistle was the
centerpiece and the great object of attraction. Speeches were made, and
the festivities continued to a late hour of the night. The next day the
thistle was planted with a great deal of ceremony, and more speeches in
the public garden at Melbourne, and it was carefully watched and tended
by the gardener, who happened to be a Scotchman.

"Well, the thistle blossomed and everybody rejoiced. You know how the
seeds of that plant are provided with down, that enables them to float
on the wind. The seeds of that thistle were borne on the breezes, and
all over the colony of Victoria they found a lodging in the soil, grew
and prospered, and sent out more seeds. That thistle has been the cause
of ruin to many a sheep and cattle run all over Australia. Thousands,
yes, millions, of acres of grass have been destroyed by that pernicious
weed. Anathemas without number and of the greatest severity have been
showered upon the thick-headed Scotchman who brought the plant to
Australia, and the other thick-headed Scotchmen who placed it in the
public garden.

"While I am on this subject," the gentleman continued, "I may as well
tell you of a very curious circumstance in New Zealand."

"What is that?"

"When the sheep farmers first established their business in the mountain
regions of New Zealand, they observed flocks of parrots occupying the
forest, and living entirely upon fruits and vegetables. They were very
pretty birds and nobody thought that any harm would come from them, in
view of their habits of life. The farmers used to kill some of their
sheep for food purposes, and leave the