WEF.DS OF AGinrUI-TURE, 329 



fool's parsley, is considered dangerous, or possessing poi- 

 sonous properties. As weeds, they are not of a very trou- 

 blesome nature. Some of the seeds, together with that of 

 the common dock, not unfrequently infest samples of red 

 clover : those who please, as they walk in their fields, may 

 examine the seeds of the wild carrot, by rubbing them in 

 their hand, to ascertain whether they be egg-shaped, equal 

 at both ends, quite plump, and rough on the surface, but 

 not so as to adhere to any thing. 



When our forefathers had clover seed to sell, they some- 

 times used to recommend it by saying, " that it had neither 

 dock nor dill in it." The seeds of these plants being sown 

 upon the barley, or being in the soil, escape the weeding of 

 that year, and the next they become strong-rooted plants in 

 the clover, and should be as carefully rooted out as the 

 docks. They are local weeds, and but seldom more than 

 one species is found to infest particular soils ; on dry chalky 

 soils the last is (as far as my experience goes) peculiar ; 

 the fool's parsley is more common on light cultivated soils. 



CORN MINT (merit ha arvensis). Leaves ovate, acute ser- 

 rated ; stamens as long as the blossoms. Root pe- 

 rennial. 



Where the land is moist this weed chiefly prevails : its 

 creeping roots are said to be difficult to extirpate ; I have 

 not, however, from personal experience, had to contend with 

 it. It is certainly not a very common or general tillage 

 weed, except on marshy or fenny land, which has been 

 over-cropped ; the roots are white, fleshy, and creeping, and 

 bind the soil much in which they grow, obstructing the pul- 

 verization ; also many of the roots are cut by the plough, 

 and may break from the tops in harrowing, so that patches 

 (for they generally abound in little hollows) ought to receive 

 extra tillage, by turning short with your ploughs and 

 harrows, and so give more exposure. It is said to be over- 

 come and got rid off" by correcting the defects of such soils 

 as encourage its growth, by draining, paring, and burning 

 the surface, and adopting the drill and horse-hoe husbandry. 

 This plant is common enough. 



