EXTRACT S F OREIGN AND DOMESTIC. 141 



are allowed to ripen their seeds, the winds of summer and autumn 

 disperse them over the country ; and, although they do not make 

 much appearance at first, they are not the less sure of coming at 

 their appointed season. Those of them that are biennial and pe- 

 rennial plants, will make little show for a time ; but, when the 

 second year of their existence comes round, they will show them- 

 selves in gay colors, and, if allowed to remain undisturbed, will 

 scatter a numerous progeny around them ere they die. The nour- 

 ishment that docks, thistles and ragworts extract from some fields 

 must be very great ; for in some pastures they are very abundant. 

 So convinced was a cottager of the evil effects of permitting weeds 

 to grow and seeil among his crops, that he not only kept them 

 out of his own garden, but assisted in destroying those of his 

 neighbors, that they might not seed and come over upon him. By 

 a little extra labor, much land might be reclaimed from the bor- 

 ders of fields, and instead of proving ai loss to the cultivator, 

 might become a benefit to the country ; for it shows but an imper- 

 fect state of cultivation when so many enemies to the crops are 

 permitted to live and die unmolested. In gardens, as well as in 

 fields, the destruction of weeds is often very imperfectly gone 

 about ; there are some weeds, such as the Poa annua, groundsel 

 and chickweed, that are constantly .shedding their seeds, and re- 

 maining also in flower at the same time ; and, if particular atten- 

 tion be not observed, the old weeds will not be long off the ground, 

 before another race will be pushing their way to supply the room 

 of those that had been removed ; and, if they aire only left for a 

 short time, they will play the part which their forefathers did be- 

 fore them — shed their seed — and, if left undisturbed, would soon 

 become possessors of the land. 



One important step towards the eradication of agricultural 

 weeds, would be to have as few open ditches as possible in the fields 

 under cultivation. Some time ago, I was told, by one of the 

 leading agriculturists of Britain, that there should be none ; for 

 they are not required where land is properly drained. Ditches 

 are commonly formed where thorn hedges are planted, in order to 

 supply earth for the benefit of the roots of the plants ; but it is 

 allowed by many farmers that, if the land be well prepared, quick- 

 set hedges will thrive better in soil that is not thrown up in the 

 usual way of planting, the roots not being so far from the influ- 

 ence of the sun or air as those that are planted in the common 

 way, and that they will seek nourishment from both the fields 

 which they divide, instead of being confined to one. Open ditches 

 are often found to be very inconvenient when a hedge requires its 

 annual cutting ; a ditch four feet wide is too much stride across 

 and work freely, and in many cases, the searseraent next the hedge, 

 by frequent cleaning, and the action of the weather, is worn away. 



