MOTES. 45 



the middle of May, and the second early in July. Some farmers, through eco- 

 nomy, (a most mistaken one), cut only once, and this is not performed till the 

 weeds have grown so rank, that part of the crop is destroyed, and more of it 

 seriously injured. By the two wet-dings, especially on thistles, the crop is kept 

 clear of weeds, and the land freed from the seed they would consequently pro- 

 duce. Remarks by Edward liurroughs, Esq. 



396 Forfurshire Report, p. 416. The diminution and deterioration of crops, 

 and in some cases the actual loss, by weeds, is equal to the rent. Cornwall 

 Report, p. 136. 



397 Mr Calvert in Nottinghamshire, had a crop of wheat that seemed to be 

 smothered with weeds. He hand-weeded it in April, and the produce was 

 nearly four quarters per acre, weighing 65 pounds per Winchester measure. 

 Notts Report, p. 117. 



398 See an Account of Experiments in weeding Broad-cast Crops, by Mr 

 John Wright, of Pickworth : Communications to the Board of Agriculture, 

 vol. vi. p. 387. The weed that grew in the wheat land, is a rampant branching 

 plant, with a blue flower, and is provincially called Midsummer, from its grow- 

 ing at that season of the year. 



399 Pitt's Essay on the Extirpation of Weeds, p. 257. 



400 Cornwall Report, p. 136. Considering the vivacious principle with which 

 weeds are endowed, it is not amiss to recollect, that if it were not so, there would 

 be little difference between the good husbandman and the sloven. Thus inces- 

 sant care is excited, and the reward is found, in the esteem that is excited, and 

 in the profit that is produced. 



401 See Dr Singer's Treatise on Irrigation, in the General Report of Scot- 

 land, vol. ii. p. 574. Derbyshire Report, vol. ii. p. 464. 



402 In preparing irrigated meadows, covered drains can never be safely re- 

 sorted to, because the water would almost certainly get down into them, and 

 destroy them ; and in most instances, the ridges may he made sufficiently high 

 and steep, to effect a sufficient drainage. Derbyshire Report, vol. iii. p. 465. 



403 Statistical Account of Scotland, vol. iv. p. 94. 



404 Ibid. vol. xv. p. 82. 405 Ibid, vol xvi. p. 471. 



406 Aberdeenshire Report, p. 444. 



407 Statistical Account of Scotland, vol. xv. p. 88. 



408 Somerset Report, p. 266. This tract is on the demesne of Mr Luttrel, 

 of Dunster Castle. 



409 Observations on the Utility of Water-meadows, by William Smith, En- 

 gineer and Mineralogist. Printed an. 1806, p. 39. Marshall on Landed Pro- 

 perty, p. 260, calls it a probable improvement. See also Derbyshire Report, vol. 

 ii. p. 484. The late Duke of Bedford had it in view, to adopt this plan of tem- 

 porary irrigation, for arable land. It has been found of great use, at Woburn 

 Abbey, to irrigate strawberries. 



410 Statistical Account of Scotland, vol. xii. p. 286. Parish of Forgue. 



411 Derbyshire Report, vol. ii. p. 459, and 466. 



412 Wiltshire Ropert, p. 119. 



413 Communications by Mr Boulton, a flooder, or floater, from Gloucester- 

 shire. General Report of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 596. 



414 The owners of canals ought to be the greatest promoters of irrigation. 

 The waste water of the canals in England might irrigate many thousand acres. 



415 Smith's Observations, p. 68 and 74. 



416 Gloucestershire Report, p. 165. 



417 Smith's Observations on Irrigation, p. 28. 



418 Remark by the Rev. Robert Hoblyn. 



419 These waters generally hold in solution, a portion of oxide of iron, or 

 rust, supposed to be a preventive of the rot, as sheep in the Cambridgeshire fens, 

 where that substance abounds, never take that disease. 



