114 AGRICULTURE. 



The agricultural labours suggested by these facts 

 are of two kinds : the eradicating of useless or per- 

 nicious plants, and the continuance and multiplica- 

 tion of those which are good. The first of these 

 objects is promoted by mowing the meadows be- 

 fore the seeds of noxious plants ripen, by pasturing 

 them once ift three years with sheep, horses, and 

 cattle in succession; by harrowing them in the 

 spring and fall ; by weeding and hoeing them ; and, 

 lastly, by sufficiently draining those that are wet. 



Many pernicious plants are annuals, and are kill- 

 ed by the first of these operations. A similar ef- 

 fect is produced by the second ; the harrow, or scar- 

 ificator, will best destroy mosses or other weeds 

 whose roots are fibrous and superficial ; the hand- 

 hoe will extirpate such tap-rooted plants as resist 

 the harrow and are refused by cattle ; and draining 

 will expel all worthless aquatics. 



Of these remedies, the last may require some ex- 

 planation. Meadows are wet from different caus- 

 es ; from obstructions, accidental or permanent, to 

 the course of rivers ; from occasional inundations ; 

 from high and uncommon tides ; from neighbouring 

 springs, issuing sometimes above and sometimes 

 below the level of the grounds you wish to drain ; 

 and frequently from others rising up within the 

 meadows themselves. In the first case, the reme- 

 dy is obvious, and consists altogether in removing 

 the obstructions ; in the second and third, embank- 

 ments, as in the Mississippi and Delaware, will ex- 

 clude the flood ; and in the fourth and fifth, the cure 

 lies in creating a surface of lower level than that 

 of the meadows to be drained, or in raising the 

 water to a level above that of the meadows, and 

 carrying it off by raceways or canals. The former 

 of these methods is to be executed by ditching, or 

 by digging through the subsoil into sand or gravel, 

 whence the water will find a subterranean passage. 

 The latter is effected by enclosing the springs with- 



