2^5 Mr. William Pitt on the 



growing in such abundance among the crops as to choke the grain ; he has often 

 seen it so thick, that over a vast extent of surface you could not have put down a 

 pin without touching a plant, and the farmers there think it indestructible: he says 

 farther, " I had remarked, that whenever any of the land had been poached, by be- 

 ing used as a road, especially in wet weather, no spurrey appeared there; it was 

 evident this was occasioned by the clods thus produced not giving room for the small 

 seeds to germinate freely; if, therefore, I could contrive to bring the ground into 

 a cloddy state when sown, I should be free of it for this crop. I had lost a crop of 

 bear, (iix-rowed barley, Hordeum hexastichonj, in one field by it entirely. The soil 

 was in a loose, mealy, incoherent state ; I resolved to delay ploughing it next sea- 

 son as long as possible, and to plough it when it was very wet. For'unately it came 

 a violent rain in the beginning of March ; it was ploughed when nearly in the state 

 of a puddle, it turned over more like mud than soil ; dry weather succeeding, this 

 mud bound a little on the surface, and produced a kind of clod ; the corn was 

 sown, it got a very slight harrowing, barely to cover the seeds, in an imperfect 

 manner, and to leave the field as lough as possible: no yarr appeared, and the crop 

 vas one of the most luxuriant I had ever seen." Thus far Dr. Anderson. 



Small birds are very fond of the seeds of this plant, it is therefore probable that 

 the surface of the ground laying undisturbed through the winter, a large proportion 

 of the seeds would be devoured by them ; I believe in all cases of a stubble very 

 full of small seeds, it is well to defer the ploughing as long as it conveniendy can be 

 on this account. Respecting land rendered over fine by tillage, it is well understood 

 by Staffordshire farmers to be a fault, and that it is much better left only knappy, 

 as they call it, that is, in small lumps ; this is attained in fallows by working the land 

 early in summer, and letting it lay to consolidate through the latter part of it; and 

 in the turnip culture by the treading of sheep and cattle, and is one great reason 

 why land should not have too many ploughings, but only a sufficient number, ju- 

 diciously timed ; but ploughing in general, particularly of broken land, is much 

 best done whon the land is dry. W. P. 



27. Base rocket (Reseda lutea) : I observed this plant amongst some corn in, 

 Gloucestershire in the summer of 1795; it is an annual plant, not very much 

 abounding. 



28. Dwarf spurge (Euphorbia exigua); common in corn fields, but generally in 

 single plants, and not very injurious to the crop. 



