WEE 



WEE 



491 



in them that will grow upon land, 

 there is no danger of their causing 

 the ground to become weedy. If 

 they do this, in any measure, it 

 must be only by vivifying latent 

 seeds in the soil. 



Another thing which is indis- 

 pensably necessary to prevent the 

 abounding of weeds, is, to sufferno 

 weeds, neither in gardens nor in 

 tillage lands, to ripen their seeds 

 in autumn, and scatter them out 

 upon the ground, 'i'he practice of 

 sluggards must be laid aside : For 

 as a aman sozoelh, so shall he also 

 reap. U weeds are thus sown on 

 every part of a field, it is no won- 

 der if the ground be filled with 

 them in the ensuing year: Nothing 

 short of a miracle, unless it be want 

 of strength in the soil to nourish 

 them, can prevent it. The pru- 

 dent husbandman, therefore, be- 

 fore the seeds of the weeds are ri- 

 pened, will go over his grounds, and 

 destroy all the weeds that appear. 

 If there should happen to be a 

 plenty of them, let them be piled 

 in heaps in the borders of the 

 fields, and a little earth thrown on 

 them ; in which situation they will 

 ferment and putrefy, and become 

 good heaps of manure, in the suc- 

 ceeding year. 



If any should object to the la- 

 bour of doing this, let them consi- 

 der whether it will not save them 

 ten times as much labour in future, 

 in subduing the weeds, after the 

 ground is filled with them, besides 

 procuring them the advantage of 

 having much better crops. 



Another good preventive of the 

 increase of weeds, is burning the 

 stubble as it stands after reaping. 



On land that is designed to be sow- 

 ed the next year, this is a good 

 piece of husbandry ; for it will des- 

 troy so many of the seeds of weeds, 

 as to prevent the ensuing crop 

 from being so very weedy as it 

 otherwise would be ; at the same 

 time, it will destroy many insects, 

 clean the ground, and render it fit- 

 ter for the operations of tillage ; not 

 to mention how much the ground 

 will be fertilized by the ashes of 

 the stubble. 



But, to prevent the increase of 

 weeds, as well as to answer other 

 good purposes, it is best that two 

 broad cast, sowed crops, when it 

 can be otherwise ordered, should 

 not succeed each other. Where 

 a hoed crop is well tilled every 

 other year, the weeds are not wont 

 to increase, in such a degree as to 

 be very troublesome. 



Another precaution, and which has 

 not been sufficiently attended to, 

 is taking care to avoid sowing the 

 seeds of weeds with grain and 

 other crops. A thorough cleaning 

 of the seed is of great importance. 

 This may be accomplished by win- 

 nowing, sifting, swimming and re- 

 peated washings. But the seeds of 

 weeds are often sowed, after they 

 have been separated from grain by 

 winnowing. This will be the case 

 when the chaff and rubbish at the 

 tail of the sheet is thrown upon a 

 dunghill, which is to be removed 

 and applied to the soil, before the 

 seeds contained therein have bad 

 opportunity to vegetate and get des- 

 troyed. 



If a farmer begins on a farm that 

 is not much infested with weeds, 

 and will carefully observe the di- 



