On Weeding Land. 263 



successfully eradicated when the land is pastured, as they 

 then stand detached, and can easily be destroyed. The 

 thistle ought to be torn from the main root every year, when 

 the plant is in its greatest vigour; the root itself is thus 

 injured, gradually decays, and the plant is ultimately got 

 rid of. They have been destroyed in a cow-pasture, by 

 mowing the ground for hay, three years in succession ( 374 ), 

 a full proof of the advantages of regularly cutting this plant 

 for a succession of years. They ought to be let alone, till 

 their blossoms begin to appear, for if cut in a young state, 

 fresh fchoots are produced from the sides of each plant. 

 When mown in full bloom, the stem is hollow, by which 

 the dew and rain descend into the heart of the plant, and 

 occasion it to rot ( 37S ); yet as the blossoms in that state, 

 are capable of ripening their seed, the safer way is, for the 

 mowing to take place on the earliest appearance of the 

 blossoms. 



The rag-weed, (seneciojacob&ajt infests some fields more 

 than even the thistle, especially when the soil is sound or 

 dry, for it is seldom to be met with in wet lands. From thie 

 number of plants of this species, which are often seen crowd- 

 ing fine pastures, leaving little room for other herbage, it 

 would seem, as if the possessors of the land, held it to be in- 

 vincible. Sheep are very fond of its young leaves, probably 

 bite off the crown an its first appearance, and thus contri- 

 bute to banish it from the pastures on which they are fed. 

 But all pastures cannot be occupied by sheep, and neither 

 cows nor horses will touch it. The only effectual *mode of 

 destroying rag-weed, is to pull the plant up, just before the 

 flower expands, which is commonly very practicable, as its 

 fibrous roots do not penetrate deep, and are easily taken <MJt 

 after a plentiful shower ( 37G ). 



From the large size of the weeds above mentioned, and 

 the numbers of them which are frequently to be met with 

 in grass land, it is obvious, that great damage is necessarily 

 incurred ; much of the herbage becomes inaccessible to pas- 

 turing animals ; the soil is robbed of vegetable nourishment ; 

 and, in some cases, all the country round infeste,d with fly- 

 ing seeds. The extirpation of weeds, therefore, is not only 

 essential for the interest of the farmer, but a matter of gene- 

 ral concern ( 377 ). On that account, it has been suggested, 

 that every farmer should be obliged, under a statutory pe- 

 nalty, to cut over, in the course of the ronnlh of July, all 



