435 



well and familiarly known as Morgan or Morgin (pronounced by the 

 customary Vectian change of the o into a, Margin), in Sussex Mavin, 

 a word, of whose etymology and proper orthography, if it have any 

 written existence, I am ignorant. A unanimous accusation lies 

 against this pernicious weed of blistering the feet, hands and open 

 bosoms of the harvest men employed in binding up the sheaves and 

 piling the shocks of wheat. That the imputation is well founded, 

 the concurrent testimony of every labourer in the harvest-field leaves 

 no room to doubt. The general opinion, gleaned from numerous and 

 minute inquiries, I find to be, that the irritating effects of the plant 

 are caused by the seeds when ripe, and are mostly manifested in the 

 lower extremities, from the close adhesion of the achenes to the part 

 by their rough surface, aided by the friction of the shoe, inducing, 

 first abrasion, afterwards active inflammation, and even ulceration. 

 I have been repeatedly assured by the country people that they have 



of the land which of right ought wholly to belong to the grain-giving goddess, would 

 as much astonish and grieve the heart of a farmer from the Lothians, as it might 

 charm a botanist from that rich and thriftful corner of North Britain, were they to 

 behold the fields that should be white to harvest with the unmingled fruits of skill 

 and industry, overrun by a particoloured array of usurping weeds which ignorance, 

 sloth, or want of capital permit to spring up unchecked. The subjoined spicilegium 

 botanicum is merely a sample of what may be gleaned without labour from the too 

 teeming lap of our Vectic Cybele in the way of agricultural nuisances. *Anthemis 

 Cotula, ^Convolvulus arvensis, Adonis autumnalis, ^Ranunculus arvensis, *Lychnis 

 Githago, Papaver *Rhceas, *dubium, Argemone and hybridum, *Alopecurus agrestis, 

 Gastridium lendigerum, Briza minor, Euphorbia *exigua, *Peplus, *helioscopia and 

 platyphylla, Torilis *infesta and nodosa, Pastinaca sativa, *Scaudix Pecten, *Galium 

 tricorne, *Melampyrum arvense, Silene anglica and inflata, Vicia *hirsuta, *tetra- 

 sperma and ^gracilis, Bupleurum rotundifolium, *Lithospermum arvense, Galeopsis 

 Ladanum, Valerianella dentata and Auricula, Linaria minor, *Elatine and *spuria, 

 Chrysanthemum *segetum and *Leucanthemum, *Orobanche minor, Specularia hy- 

 brida, Myosurus minimus, with a host of others still commoner, homelier, or at best 

 more pretty than profitable. Those with the asterisk are the most obnoxious to the 

 farmer from their bulk or abundance, the remainder, if less injurious, are sufficently 

 plentiful to aid in exhausting the land, and appropriating that nourishment which 

 ought to go to the nascent crop, and therefore are never seen in any quantity where 

 good husbandry prevails and the ground is kept clean and in fair condition. To this 

 censure on the general state of agriculture in the island, many honourable exceptions 

 must be made amongst the class of practical farmers, upon whose land scarcely a 

 weed is to be seen, whilst several of the great owners of estates, in devoting their 

 time, energies and capital to agricultural improvement, are silently effecting a change 

 in the deep-rooted prejudices and slovenly habits of the little farmers of the old 

 school, that are still a numerous race amongst the more enlightened of their brethren. 



