WEEDS OF ARABLE LAND 137 



place in Great Britain in certain cases in which the 

 orchard is situated on a slope and subjected to heavy 

 rains during the heat of summer. The growth of a crop 

 of this kind beneath the trees prevents undue " wash- 

 ing" of the soil and loss of plant food, while it adds 

 steadily to the amount of humus present, and the roots 

 open up the soil to atmospheric influences. There 

 is certainly something to be said for such a procedure 

 as that here referred to, but we think the orchardist 

 can do better. Instead of allowing " weeds " to over- 

 run his ground and serious pests may arise unless 

 care be exercised he may usefully sow the seeds of 

 rape, lupins, or similar quick-growing crop, which will 

 serve quite as useful a purpose as the weeds, and if of a 

 leguminous character, will, when dug or ploughed in, 

 increase the stores of nitrogen in the soil. 



" The face of Nature smiles serenely gay ; 

 And even the motley race of weeds enhance 

 Her rural charms : Yet let them not be spared ; 

 Still as they rise, unconquered, let the hoe 

 Or ploughshare crush them. In your fields permit 

 No wild-flower to expand its teeming bloom : 

 In wood and wild, there let them bud and blow 

 By haunted streamlet, where the wandering bee, 

 Humming from cup to bell, collects their sweets." 



JAMES GRAHAME, British Georgics, 1812. 



