312 THE COMPLETE FARMER 



To destroy bushes in swamps, flooding two or three sum' 

 mers is the most approved method. But if this is not con- 

 venient, draining will so alter the nature of the soil, that the 

 shrubs which it naturally produced before will not be any 

 longer nourished by it ; and one cutting may be sufficient. 



After all, extirpation, by digging them out, and by fire^ is 

 cheajf :st and most effectual. — Farmer's Guide. 



IRRIGATION. The following is from the Transactions 

 of the Essex Agricultural Society. 



Dr. Spofford's Essay on hrigation. I feel some apology 

 is due to the trustees for my long delay in fulfilling the ap- 

 poi-ritment with which I was honored by them at their meet- 

 ing in September, 1830 ; and have only to say that it was 

 occasioned by a desire to obtain from a friend, then at a dis- 

 tance, some account of an experiment on a larger scale than 

 any other which has come to my knowledge in this part of 

 the country. 



Some degree of knowledge of vhat constitutes the food of 

 plants seems indispensable to any well-conducted system of 

 producing them in the greatest perfection; and such know- 

 ledge seems most likely to be obtained by minutely examin- 

 ing their structure, and carefully observing the manner of 

 their growth. 



Plants constitute one of the great divisions of organic life, 

 and one formed or constituted by systems of fibres and ves- 

 sels, and endowed with certain powers and appetences which 

 place them at a greater remove above unorganized matter 

 than they are below animal life ; and appropriate nourish- 

 ment is elaborated, and a complete circulation is carried on 

 to the minutest extremity, in a manner extremely analogous 

 to the circulation which is carried on in the arteries and veins 

 of the most perfect animals; and the apparent intelligence 

 with which plants seek for nourishment, light, air, and sup- 

 port, appears in some instances to bear a strong resemblance 

 to perception and knowledge ; and the circulation of fluids 

 in the vessels of plants and animals appears to be carried on 

 much on the same principles, and is perfectly involuntary in 

 both. 



The indispensable agency of water, in constituting the 

 fluids, and carrying on the circulation in these systems of 

 vessels, has been universally acknowledged ; and could not 



