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therefore tried them on fome garden ground, and 

 they appeared to anfwer ttiy expedtation. But as 

 this fmall experiment was not fully decifive, I pre- 

 vailed on a neighbouring farmer to try them on orte 

 acre in a large turnip field then preparing, and on 

 that acre entirely to omit any of the compoft with 

 which the reft of the field was manured. This he 

 exadly conformed to, and threw the water weeds 

 into every furrow that was at the next turn 

 filled up by the plough. The confequence was, 

 that by the moifturcand fermentation of the weeds, 

 the feeds vegetated much fooner than on the reft of 

 the field. They alfo grew quicker, and were, fu- 

 perior both in the fize of the roots and luxuriance 

 of the leaves, fo as to render the fpot very con- 

 fpicuous in the field. 



But impartiality obliges me to remark, that in 

 the fucceeding crop, (barley) there was a perceivable 

 inferiority to the reft of the land. Whether this 

 proceeded from the weeds or fome other caufe, I 

 cannot determine; but the fuccefs of this trial 

 (with refped to the turnips) being deciiively in its 

 favour, induced me, in the following fummer, to 

 collect a confiderable quantity of thefe weeds, and 

 to lay them by the fide of a common refervoir of 

 dung, but not to incorporate them with any part of 

 it; and when the mafs was removed, it did not 



appear 



