yiii 



PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. 



Part III. 



every where in the subsoil alive and vigorous. They send up a few leaves every year in the furrows and 

 on the sides of drains ; and when any field is neglected or left a year or two in grass, they are found all 



over its surface. Were this tract left to nature for a few years, it would soon be as completely covered 

 with the Polygonum as it must have been at a former age, when it was one entire marsh partially covered 

 by the Frith of Forth. The horse-tail is equally abundant in many soils, even of a drier desceiption ; and 

 the corn-thistle (Serr&tula arvensis,^^. 817. c) even in dry rocky grounds. Lightfoot {Flora Scdiica) men- 

 tions plants of this species dug out of a quarry, the. roots of which were nineteen feet in length: it 

 would be useless to attempt eradicating the roots of such plants. The only means of keeping them under, 

 is to cut off their tops or shoots as soon as they appear; for which purpose, lands subject to them are best 

 kept in tillage. In grass lands, though they may be kept from rising high, yet they will, after being 

 repeatedly mown, form a stool or stock of leaves on the surface, which will suffice to strengthen their roots, 

 and greatly to injure the useful herbage plants and grasses. 



6203. Tuberous and bulbous-rooted weeds, are not very numerous ; wild garlic, arum, and bryony are 

 examples ; and these are only to be destroyed by complete eradication. 



6204. Ramose, fusiform, and similarly rooted perennials, oi -which rest-harrow, fern, and scabious are 

 examples, may in general be destroyed by cutting over below the collar or point whence the seed-leaves 

 have issued. Below that point the great majority of plants, ligneous as well as herbaceous, have no power 

 of sending up shoots ; though there are many exceptions, such as the dock, burdock, &c., among herbs, 

 and the thorn, elm, poplar, cherry, crab, &c., among trees. 



6205. Holdich has taken a different view of the subject of weeds, and classed them, not 

 according to the modes by which they may be destroyed, but according to the injuries 

 which they do to the soil or the crop. He has divided them into two classes, weeds of 

 agriculture, or arable lands, and pasture weeds. 



6206. Arable weeds are arranged as, 1. those which infest samples of corn ; 2. root or fallow weeds, and 

 such others as are hard to destroy ; 3. those which are principally objectionable as they incumber the soil ; 

 4. underling weeds, such as never rise with the crop, nor come into the sickle. Under these heads, each 

 weed in its respective division is treated of as to its deteriorating qualities and mode of destruction. 



GWl. The weeds rvhichinfest the samplezxe,\.V)a3me\{lM\\xva. Rhoe'as) ; 3. Blue-bottle (Centaur^a CJanus); 4. Mayweed 

 temuWntum); 2. Cockle (.'Vgrost^mraa GithJigo); 3. Tares '" ' "'--> ^ ' " - - ' 



(fi'rvum tetrasp^rmum) ; 4. Alelilot (rrifdlium Jtfelildtus ofE- 

 cinklis) ; 5. Wild oats (^v6na fetua) ; 6- Hariff (GUium Spa- 

 rine) ; 7. Crow needles (Scindix P^cten) ; 8. Black bindweed 

 (Pol^gonuip Convdlvulus) ; 9. Snake- weed (Polygonum /apa- 

 thifblium) ; 10. Charlock seeds, (Sinapis, fiiphanus, and Brds- 

 sica) in barley sometimes. 



6208. Weeds which are principally objectionalle as they encum- 

 ber the soil are, 1. Charlock, a name which is applied to four 

 species of CruclferiE (viz. Sinkpis arv^nsis and nigra, Raphanus 

 Raphanfstrum, and iBr^ssica iVkpus) ; 2. Com poppy (Papkver 



(.d'nthemis Cdtula) ; and 5. Com marigold (Chrystothemum 

 s^getum. 



6209. The weeds called underlings, or such as never rise in the 

 crops, are, 1. Groundsel (Sen^cio vulgaris) ; 2. Annual meadow 

 grass (P6a innua) ; 3. Chickweed (Stellkria m^dia) ; 4. Shep- 

 herd's purse (rhWpsi bi^rsa past6ris and er^cta); 5. Spurry 

 (Sp^rgula arv^nsis) ; 6. Chamomile (Matrickria Chamomflla) ; 

 7. Fat-hen (Chenopddium dlbum) ; 8. Common com salad 

 (P^dia olitdria) , 9. Flix-weed {Sisymbrium Sophia) ; 10. Com- 

 mon fumitory (Fumkria officinklis) ; 11. Sand mustard (Sink- 

 pis muralis). 



6210. Pasture weeds are, 1. Dwarf-thistle (C&rduus aca61is) ; 2. Common chamomile (.4'nthemis n6bilis) ; 

 3. Star-thistle (Centaurfea Calcitrapa) ; 4. Ox-eyedaisy (Chrysanthemum leuc&nthemum) ; 5. Great fleabane 

 (Conyza squarrosa) ; 6. Cheese-rennet (Gklium vferum) ; 7. Long-rooted hawkweed {A^krgia, autumn^lis) ; 

 8. Wild thyme (TTi:^mus Serpyllum) ; 9. Sheep's sorrel (iiCimex Acetos^lla); 10. Knot-grass (Polygonum 

 aviculkre) ; 11. Yellow rattle (Rhinanthus Crista galli) ; 12. Common carline thistle (Carlmo vulgaris). 



6211. Pasture weeds tvhich generally prevail in loamy soils, 6. Common ragwort (Sen6cio Jacobae'a) ; 7. Common daisy 



and such also as are prevalent in clayey and damp soils, 

 principally as follows : 1 . Yellow goat's-beard (Tragopbgon 

 pratensis); 2. Marsh thistle (Cirduus paliistris) ; 3. Melan- 

 choly thistle (Cdrduus heterophJUus) ; 4. Meadow thistle (Cdr- 

 duus pratensis) ; 5. Common butter-bur (Tussilkgo Petasites) ; 



(B^Uis per^nnis) ; 8. Common black knapweed (Centaurea 

 nigra) ; 9. Broad-leaved dock {Riimex obttisifblius) ; 10. Orchis 

 (O'rchis mdscula, maculkta, latifblia, m6iio, and pyramidklis) ; 

 11. Common cow-parsnep (Heracl^um j^hondyiium) ; 18. 

 Sedge (Ckrex), various species. 



6212. A catalogue of weeds could be of little use to the agriculturist, as the mere 

 names could never instruct him as to their qualities as weeds, even if he knew them by 



