On Weeding Land. 265 



grow upon the surface; but if briars and brambles should 

 appear they ought to be grubbed up, as making a planta- 

 tion inaccessible even to its owner : and as ivy is injurious 

 to the growth of timber, by confining and fretting the trees, 

 and depriving them of the nourishment they would other- 

 wise receive, it should be cleared away, before it has too 

 long established itself; otherwise it becomes a kind of gar- 

 ment, the removing of which may chill, and in that way in- 

 jure the tree. 



6. Gardens. A list of twenty-two plants has been given, 

 to the growth of which gardens are liable. Several of them, 

 like the couch, the common thistle, the common nettle, &c. 

 are to be met with in the fields and hedges. Sometimes 

 the seeds are wafted by the wind, and at other times intro- 

 duced with the manure. Hence the advantage of using 

 fermented dung, by which the vegetative power of seeds is 

 destroyed. From the attention, however, paid to the gar- 

 den culture, it is seldom that weeds are suffered to grow to 

 any injurious excess. 



2. Instruments made use of in Weeding. 



There are several sorts of instruments used for that pur- 

 pose, in particular, those for cutting weeds ; for pulling 

 them up; for digging them out; also hand-hoes ; horse- 

 hoes ; harrows ; and the scarifier, or grubber. 



1. Thistles are sometimes cut by the sickle in corn crops, 

 and by the scythe, or spud, in grass fields; but more gene- 

 rally by a simple instrument called the weed-hook, when the 

 crops are growing. 



2. In several instances, thistles among corn are pulled by 

 the hand. Where this plan is adopted, the hand of the 

 weeder is covered by a strong glove, which enables the per- 

 son to take fast hold of the weed, and to pull it up. 



3. Weeds are frequently rooted out by an instrument called 

 the docking-iron. It consists of a forked, or clefted spike 

 of iron, jagged within the cleft, and fixed to the end of a 

 wooden lever ; this being forced down by the hand or foot, 

 so as to inclose the root of a dock or large thistle, will 

 easily wrench it up, particularly after rain. In Bucking- 

 hamshire, a small spade, or spud, is made use of for this pur- 

 pose, with which the best farmers are accustomed, to cut 

 thistles in their pastures, under ground, twice a year ( 381 ). 



4. Hand-hoes are of various sizes, suited to the work in- 

 tended. In several parts of Essex, wheat is sometimes thrice 



