OF WEEDING. 361 



5. The extirpation of briers and brambles from arable 

 land, is attended with a little more trouble, as their viva- 

 cious roots are placed below the operation of the plough, 

 and will not pull up. To get rid of them, it is necessary 

 to dig them out with great care. 



6. There is no perennial weed more apt to elude the vigi- 

 lance of the agriculturist, than tussilago, not only because 

 the seeds of this plant comes to maturity before the leaves 

 expand, (hence it was anciently called Filius ante Patrefn), 

 but from the seeds ripening so early in the spring, they 

 are not unusually shaken, before the grounds have got the 

 second furrow. This is mocking the toils of the farmer, 

 even in the year of his fallow ; for should the whole roots 

 of the old plants be afterwards extirpated, they have, by 

 depositing their seeds, made sure of the succession in their 

 own family. The industrious farmer, not aware of this 

 two-fold attack of the enemy, wonders from what quarter 

 he made his approach. If, therefore, the second furrow 

 canuot be accomplished in time, it is prudent to send 

 hoers, two or three upon every ridge, and carefully cut up 

 such plants, so that they may be prevented from dropping 

 their seeds, till they can be destroyed effectually by the 

 plough. 



But the best time for destroying tussilago is in the 

 months of September and October, after the corns are cut, 

 at which season the plants are at their full growth, and 

 easily discovered. The method then to be used is, to pull 

 up and carry off every stock or root that can be laid hold 

 of; and it will be observed, by inspecting the roots at 

 about an inch below the surface, that a number of buds, 

 about the size of a pea, spring from that part of the root, 

 which flowering, afterwards produce fresh seed. Now, 

 if these are allowed to stand till next spring, they will 

 flower and shed their seeds, in spite of every possible at- 



