218 AftRICFLTURAL ESSAYS. 



crops, when 1-idges, shallow ploughed in the same field, wcrt 

 but indifferent," which seems a decisive proof in favor of deep 

 plougtiing. 



Wej 



Weeds infest all kinds of land more or less, and occasion 

 so much labor that it is seldom perfectly accomplished. But 

 there are varions considerations to mduce the farmer to do all 

 in his power to suppress their growth. 1. Whenever weeds 

 are suffered to stand and grow among cultivated plants, the 

 crop wiU receive proportionably the less quantity of nourish- 

 ment from the earth: for they require as much nourishment 

 from the earth as better plants do. 2. Their roots occupy 

 and fill many of those interstices in the soil, which would have 

 been occupied by the roots of the cultivated plants ; and many 

 kinds of weeds have such a multitude of strong and binding 

 roots, that they render the soil stiff and hard, and so compact 

 that the roots of tender plants cannot extend themselves in it. 

 This bad quality is possessed in a remaikabie degree by the 

 quitch grass, and by some other weeds. 3. Weeds prevent 

 plants from tillering, or branching out from their loots, as 

 many kinds, and particularly the farinacous, which are the 

 most valuable, are inclined to do when they have room. But 

 the growing of a multitude of weeds among them, reduces them 

 to a crowded situation ; the consequence is, that they shoot up 

 only single stalks, by which means the crop is greatly dimin- 

 Bshed. 4. Weeds deprive plants of that free circulation of air 



