WEEDS. 



nnring, also, makes the grasses get 

 the better of it, and choke it when 

 young. 



" Chrysanthemum Inicanlhcmum, or 

 great white one eye, sometimes 

 abounds in inferior pastures, and is 

 only extirpated by tillage and impro- 

 ving the soil by manuring it well. 



" We have already mentioned an- 

 nual and biennial thistles, but the per- 

 ennials, such as the Cnicus arvcnsis 

 and Sonchus ari-cnsis, or corn thistle 

 and sow thistle, arc much more dif- 

 ficult to eradicate, as the roots strike 

 deep in the ground and throw up 

 fresh shoots every year. The most 

 effectual mode of destroying them is 

 to draw them out with an instrument 

 like large pincers, made of wood or 

 iron, and called ' a thistle-drawer,' 

 the form of which is well Icnown, and 

 which may be had in most ironmon- 

 gers' shops. The time to draw the 

 thistles is when the stem is grown 

 sufficiently to give a good hold of the 

 crown of the root. Great care must 

 be taken not to break the root too 

 near the ground, but to draw it out 

 completely. In ploughing, also, a 

 broad and sharp share, cutting hori- 

 zontally seven or eight inches below 

 the surface, will cut off the long roots, 

 BO as to prevent their making fresh 

 shoots ; and when this is done while 

 the thistle is in a growing state, the 

 root will bleed and be destroyed. In 

 grass land they are soon destroyed, 

 if they are carefully cut down with 

 a scythe just as the llower is expand- 

 ing, and before the seed is formed. 

 If this is done for two or three years, 

 not a thistle will be seen ; but then 

 all the neighbouring farmers must 

 agree in a general war upon thistles, 

 whether on the land or in the hedge- 

 rows. 



" The dock {Rumcx oJ>tusifoUns and 

 others) is another most troublesome 

 weed, both in fields and pastures, and I 

 is only to be eradicated by similar I 

 means with the thistle. Docks are I 

 often left in the field after harvest, [ 

 where they shed their seed at leisure, j 

 whereas they should be collected j 

 with as great care as the corn itself, I 

 and invariably be burned ia heaps ; ! 



this is the only sure means of de- 

 stroying the seed. They are often 

 thrown into the roads, supposing tha« 

 they will be crushed by the wheels 

 of carts passing over them ; but it 

 must be remembered that birds may 

 swallow them, and void them again 

 with their vegetative powers unin- 

 jured, if not improved ; and that thus 

 they are again sown on the land. 

 Nothing but burning is a sure de- 

 struction of the seeds. 



" Cenfaurca nigra, black knapweed 

 or horse-knot, is a coarse plant which 

 chiefly infests pastures, and takes up 

 the room of useful grasses, most an- 

 imals refusing to eat it. It is only 

 to be eradicated by pulling the plants 

 up by the roots or cutting them close 

 to the ground wherever they appear. 

 -Manuring the surface highly and 

 mowing the grass soon makes them 

 disappear. 



" Pob/gonum amphihhim, commonly 

 called amphibious persicaria, is found 

 on very wet land, and is best destroy- 

 ed by draining. 



" Besides the common couch grass 

 {Triticum rcpc?is), which is the pest of 

 farmers on light soils, there are a va- 

 riety of plants which spread both by 

 the roots and by creeping along the 

 surface ; of this kind are the differ- 

 ent sorts of quitches, as they are pro- 

 vincially called, which grow in wet 

 soils. Of these, the Agrostis stolonif- 

 era, once so highly praised as fodder 

 under the name of florin, and the 

 Agrostis alba (March bent grass), are 

 the most common ; when they take 

 possession of a spot they exclude all 

 other grasses. The only mode of 

 extirpating these last is draining and 

 careful tillage. But to return to the 

 common couch. This weed some- 

 times takes such possession of the 

 soil that nothing else can thrive in it. 

 It is not a single fallow or cleaning 

 which will get rid of it, but a regular 

 system. Ploughing does often more 

 harm than good, by dividing the root 

 (which is, in fact, an underground 

 stem), and thus increasing the num- 

 ber of plants. The most effectual 

 means of destruction is by the fork. 

 If, after the ground has been once 



84.3 



