300 WEEDS OF AGRICULTLRK. 



voured, as much as in his power, to supply what was 

 wanting to complete the original design. The Author's 

 introductory remarks explain the origin of the Essay ; viz. 

 the inquiries of a " Young Farmer" for a treatise on weeds. 



Mr. Holdich was a practical farmer of very great ability, 

 as well as a man possessing the most extensive and correct 

 knowledge on rural affairs ; which knowledge he acquired 

 solely by his own industry and application, united to supe- 

 rior natural talents, and which procured him the appro- 

 bation of the public, as well as that of the personal friend- 

 ship of the first agriculturists of the d<iy. 



It may be said, that after the manner in which the sub- 

 ject has been treated by Mr. Pitt, in his Essay ; by Pro- 

 fessor Martyn, in his edition of Miller's Dictionary ; and 

 particularly by Sir John Sinclair, in his great national work, 

 the Code of Agriculture (which should be in the hands of 

 every farmer), — this publication was uncalled for; yet, 

 nevertheless, it has been called for, and it is surely unneces- 

 sary here to mention the great advantages of a manual on a 

 subject of so much importance to good husbandry, and 

 which cannot be too often or too early impressed on the 

 minds of young farmers, for whose especial use the Author 

 designed his essay. 



Introduction, 



It has happened, that an essay on weeds and their 

 destruction, has never been published. During the conti- 

 nuance of the Board of Agriculture, an essay of this kind 

 was sent to the Board, by Mr. Pitt, of Wolverhampton, con- 

 taining a pretty long catalogue, but with many important 

 omissions, and without any practical arrangement. Mr. Pitt 

 understood botany very well, but knew little of agriculture. 

 His essay is to be found in the fifth volume of the Commu- 

 nications to the Board of Agriculture, printed in 1806. 



It seems somewhat strange, at this advanced period of 

 agricultural knowledge, that so many queries should be put, 



