ON ROTATION OF CROPS. 177 



ing its seed ; whilst the other having a less laborious task 

 to perform, lives through several successive years. 



Caroline. If that is the only distinction, an annual 

 might live several years, were its seed prevented ripening. 



Mrs. B. Instances of this sometimes occur in cold 

 countries, such as Scotland. If the season has not afford- 

 ed sufficient heat to ripen the corn, and that the follow- 

 ing winter has not been so severe as to prove fatal to it, 

 it will ripen the succeeding summer ; and, indeed, when- 

 ever by any artificial means you prevent the ripening of 

 the seed of an annual, it becomes perennial. 



But to return to our subject. The succession of crops 

 should be so arranged as to prevent as much as possible 

 the growth of weeds : but what plant is it which deserves 

 so opprobrious a title ? for not one issues from the hands 

 of its Creator which is not destined to act some useful 

 part in its own sphere : either its exhalations purify the 

 air ; its exudations fructify the earth ; its fruit supplies us 

 with food or clothing ; its blossoms regale our senses ; 

 and even its poisons minister to our diseases. What 

 plant can we then denominate a weed ? The only blame 

 which attaches to weeds is (as Dr. Johnson expresses it) 

 being out of their place ; and it is the business of the ag- 

 riculturist so to fill up the place they would occupy, as to 

 drive them out of the field. This cannot be more effec- 

 tually [accomplished than by the cultivation of artificial 

 grasses, such as clover and lucern, which, when sown 

 thick, produce a shade very prejudicial to the growth of 

 weeds ; if sown thin, so as to leave space, light, and air, 

 it, on the contrary, encourages their growth. 



There is nothing more favorable to the improvement of 

 land than hoed crops, provided no immediate profit be 

 expected from them, and that we are satisfied if they re- 

 pay the expenses of cultivation ; that is to say, the value 

 of the seed, the hoeing, the ploughing, and the manure. 



Emily. But why are not these crops sown so thick as 

 to prevent the growth of weeds, and, consequently, the 

 necessity of hoeing ? 



970. How might an annual be mude to live several years, and where 

 hag it been done! 971. How should the succession of crops be ar- 

 ranged! 972. What does Mrs. B. say of weeds'? 973. What 

 does Dr. Johnson say of them! 974. How can the evil named by him 

 be remedied 1 975. What is the effect of hoed crops on land! 



