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tilt rced% v/hich are faftencd round the ftyle. This 

 plant fjowers the beginning of May, and the feeds 

 ripen in July, foon after which the llalks and leaves 

 decay, fo that the roots remain inatftive rill the fol- 

 lowing fpring. 



This plant is propagated by offsets, which the roots 

 put out pretty freely when they are ina loofe moift foil 

 and a fhady fituation ; the bed time to remove the 

 roots, and take away the offsets, is in Auguil, after the 

 leaves and ftalks are decayed, that they may be fixed 

 well in their nev/ fituation before the frofl: comes on. 



■ It may alfo be propagated by feeds, which the plants 

 generally produce in plenty ; thefe fhould be fown in 



- the autumn foon after they are ripe, either in a fhady 

 moift border, or in pots,- which Ihould be placed in 

 the {hade J in the fpring the plants will come op, 

 and muft then be kept clean from weeds, and if the 

 feafon proves dry, they muft be frequently refrefhed 

 with water ; nor fhould they be expofed to the fun, 

 for while the plants are young, they are very impa- 

 tient of heat, fo that I have known great numbers 



■ of them deftroyed in two or three days, which were 

 growing to the full fun. Thefe young plants fhould 

 not be tranfplantcd till their leaves are decayed, then 

 they may be carefully taken up and planted in a 



■ fhady border, where the foil is look and moift, at 

 about eight inches diftance from each other, which 

 will be room enough for them to grow one year, by 

 which time they will be ftrong enough to produce 

 flowers, fo may then be tranfplantcd into fome fha- 

 dy borders in the flower-garden, where they will 

 appear very ornamental during the continuance of 

 their flowers. 



At the firft many fuppofed this plant to be tender. To 



planted it in warm fituations andnurfed it too much, 



whereby the plants were often killed j but by experi- 



•ence it is found to be fo hardy,' as not to be hurt by 



•the feverefl^cold of this "country; but it will riot 



: thrive in a ve^ diy foil, or where it is greatly expofed 



totheiun/k, ^ ^y'- " ' 



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meadow;, : ^^^.^ , 



IrUnder'tlie general title "of Meadow, is commonly 

 I'rcorhprehehded all pafture land, or at leaft all Grafs 

 5:land, which i^ mowrjforhay; but I chufe rather, to 

 /dTftinguifh fych land only by this appeljationj wJiicja 



is fo low, as to be too moift for cattle to graze upon 

 . them in winter, being generally too wet to admit nea- 



vy cattle, without poaching and fpoiling the fvvard ; 



and thofe Grafs lands which are drier, I fhall diftin- 



guifli by the title of pafture. 



There are two forts of Meadows in England, one of 

 /which is ftiled Water Meadows, and the other are 



finiply 'called Meadows. 



Water Meadows are thofe which lie contiguous to 

 rivers or brooks, from whence the water can be car- 

 ried to overflow the Grafs at plcafure.' Of thefe there 



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are large trafts in feveral parts of England, which, if 

 fkilfully managed, would become much more profit- 

 able to their owners than they are at prefent, as hath 

 been already mentioned in another place ; for nothino- 

 can be more abfurd than the common^ practice of 

 flowing thefe low grounds all the winter, whereby the 

 'roots of all tKe fweeteft kinds of Grafs are deftroyed, 

 and only fiich GralTes left as are natives of marflics, 

 . which are coarfe and four^: and. if people were 5ur;ous 



[ ' to examine the herbage of thefe Water Meadows, 

 they would find^the bulk of them compofed of bad 

 weeds, luch as grow by the lides or rivers, brooks, 

 and ditches, of which the feveral forts of Docks make 

 ' nq^finall fhare; and although many of thefe Mea- 

 dows produce a great burden of what the country peo- 

 ple call hay, yet this is only fitforcows, cart-horfcs, 

 ancToth'er animals, which by hard labour and hunger, 

 are driven to' eat it ;' for horfes which have been accuf 



^ tomcd^to feed on' good hay, will ftarve before tliey 

 will touch it :^ and after the Grafs is mown off thefe 

 Meadows, arid c^attle turned in to graze upon them, 

 how common'isTt'to'fee the land almoft covered witli 

 thefe rank weeds', v/hich the cattle never will eat 1 

 Which muft always1)e the cbndition^of fuch Meadows, 



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where the water is let over tliem in autumn and v.-In 

 tcr i for, as the fides of rivers and brooks do evc-' 

 .where abound with thefe rank weeds, whofe feeds r 

 pen in autumn, and falling into the water, they - 

 carried by the ftream, and depofired on the fiovJed 

 ■ land, where they grow and fill the ground in every 

 parti but fo incurious arc the generality of farmci^ 

 in this refpedl:, that if the ground is but well covered 

 they care not what it is, few of them ever taking any 

 pains to weed or clean their paftures. ^ 



The method which I propofc for the manao-emcnt of 

 thefe Meadows is, never to flow them till t?ie middle 

 or latter end of March, excepting once or twice in 

 winter, when there may happen floods, which may 

 bring down a great fhare of foil from the upper lands 

 at which times it will be of great fervice to let water 

 upon the Meadows, that the foil may fettle there ;faut 

 the fooner the wet is drained off when this is lodo-ed 

 the greater advantage the Meadov/s will receive by it • 

 but from the end of March to the middle of May, in 

 dry feafons, by frequently letting on the water, the 

 growth of the Grafs will be greatly encouraged, and at 

 this feafon there will be no danger of deftroyinrr the 

 roots of the Grafs ; and after the hay is carried off 

 the ground, if the feafon fiiould prove dry, it will be 

 of great fervice to the Grafs, if the Meadows are 

 flowed again -, but when this is praflifed, no cattle 

 fhould be turned into the Meadows, rill the furface 

 of the ground is become firm enough to bear their 

 weight without poaching the land, for otherwifethe 

 Grafs will fuffer more from the treading of the cat- 

 tle, th^n it will receive benefit by the flowing; but 

 thefe are things which the country people feldom 



,': regard, fo that the Meadows are generally very un- 



-J lightly, and rendered left profitable, 

 I would alio recommend the weeding of thefe Mea- 

 dows twice a year; the firft time in April, and again 



: in OftoberV at which rimes if the roots of Docks 



"iand all bad weeds are cut up with a fpaddle, the Mea- 

 dows_ will foon be cleared of this trumpery, and the 



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herbage greatly improvedi;>^^ 



/Another great improvement of thefe lands migKt lie 

 p^ocui-ed, by rolling thdm with' a Heavy roller in 

 fpring and autumn, ;vThis will prefs" the furface 'of 

 the ground even, whereby it may be mown much 

 clofer, and it will alfo fweeten the Grafs; and this 

 piece of hufbandry is of more fervice to paftures 

 than moft people are aware of. 

 As to thofe Meadows which cannot be flo#e3^ there 

 fhould be the fame care taken to weed and roll them, 

 as hath been diredted for the Water Meadows 5 as alfo 

 never to let heavy cattle graze upon them in winte'r 

 when they are wet; for the cattle will therf poach 



them, and greatly injure the Grafs'; therefore thefe 







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fhould be fed down as clofe as poffible in the autumn, 

 before the heavy rains fall to render the ground foft ; 

 arid thofe paftures which are drier, may be kept to 

 fupply the want of thefe in winter ; and where there 

 are not cattle enough to eat down th6 Grafs in time, 

 it will be much better to cut'Off what is left, than 

 to fu^frjtjo rot upon the ground, for that will pre- 

 vent the Grafs from Ihooting early in the faring; but 

 wliere people have not cattle enough of their own to 

 eat down' the Grafs' In rihie, they had 'much better 

 t^ke in fomeof their neighbours, than fuffer their fog 



(as it is called) to remain all the winter. When thefe 

 Meadows are fed in the autumn, the greater variety 

 of animals are turned in, the clofer they will eat the 

 Grafs; and I am fully convinced, the "clofer jt is 

 eaten, the better the Grafs will come up the follow- 

 ing fpring ; ■-therefore, if during the time while the- 

 cattie are feeding, the Meadows are well rolled, the 

 animals will eat the Grafs much' clofer than they 



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otherwife would. ' - . .' ' - 



Thofe perfons who are beft fkilled in this part ot 

 hufbandry, always drefs their Meadows every othe^' 

 or at leaft every third year, without which it is in vain 

 to expedl any good crop of hay ; but the generality 

 of the farmers are fo much diftreffed for dreffing to 

 fupply their Corn land, as not to have any to ipji"*^ 



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