The use of the useless

Thirty spokes share the wheel's hub; It is the center hole that makes it useful. Shape clay into a vessel; It is the space within that makes it useful. Cut doors and windows for a room; It is the holes which make it useful. Therefore profit comes from what is there; Usefulness from what it not there. LAO TSU, in Tao te Ching

Abstract

The Human population suffers from a serious and paradoxical misunderstanding of its own place and importance within Nature: Unable or unwilling to control its own growth, being faced by overcrowding with resulting loss of productive land, and lack of food both in quantity and quality, alternative ways of feeding Mankind and his domestic stock have to be found. In the present paper examples and suggestions are given to illustrate how weeds—the generally considered “useless” elements of the Plant Kingdom—could become accepted as alternative food-providers.