THE CORN-FIELD. 23 



the tares. What renders this the more prohahle 

 is, that the latter only appeared when the blade of 

 the wheat had sprung up and brought forth fruit. 

 This description exactly agrees with the darnel, 

 the leaves of which are so like the corn among 

 which they grow as not to be distinguished from 

 it until the ear is formed. I was one day walking 

 through a wheat-field in one of the western coun- 

 ties of England, just before harvest, when I ob- 

 served a considerable quantity of darnel growing 

 among the corn, and stopped to gather some. 

 While I was thus occupied the owner of the 

 field came up to me, and asked me what I was 

 gathering; I said that I was merely collecting 

 a few specimens of a peculiar kind of grass, 

 which I showed to him. " Ah!" said he, "that 

 is a very bad sort of weed to grow among corn." 

 I assented, and after mentioning to him w r hat the 

 properties of the plant were, said, that " some 

 people supposed it to be the same with the tare 

 of Scripture." The farmer, however, appeared 

 to know very little about the parable to which 

 I alluded, but went on to say, that he found it 

 a very troublesome weed, " for," added he, " I 

 am obliged to employ a number of women, at 

 harvest time, to pick it out from the wheat, and 

 to tie it up in bundles." No doubt, when thus 

 " tied up in bundles," it is usually burnt ; for 

 every prudent farmer would adopt such mea- 

 sures as he thought best calculated to prevent 

 it from springing again from seed, which it would 

 most likely do if the straw coming from it were 

 converted into litter; for in this case, although 

 the stems should rot, yet the seeds would be car- 

 ried out into his fields among manure, and he 



