84. 071 Plaister of Park, 



esptciaily if only pastured, so long as it wquld be 

 otherwise desirable. Cutting annual weeds, before they 

 seed, will destroy them. Perennials cut at proper peri- 

 ods, may in a great degree be conquered. At any rate, 

 their seeding may be prevented ; and the old stock de. 

 stroyed by ploughing. But the abominable custom of 

 sufFtring weeds, briars, &c. to grow in corners an^ 

 about fences, will forever afford nurseries of the^ 

 pests, which will keep up a succession of these nui? 

 sauces, in fields otherwise well cultivated. The rotting 

 of fences, articles of no small expence and labour, is 

 not the least evil attending this negligent habit. The 

 few farmers who are careful to destroy weeds in their 

 own fields, are too often infested by those of their 

 slovenly neighbours. In some parts of Europe there 

 are laus which authorize those who destroy weeds 

 in their own, to cut those in the adjacent fields of an 

 obstinate or negligent neighbour, and obtain summary 

 process from a magistrate, to reimburse the expence. 

 However unpalatable such laws might be here, they 

 shew that the destruction of weeds is considered highly 

 important, in countries where a good stile of agri- 

 culture prevails. The truth is, that a farmer should be 



dung is left exposed to rain and sun ; thrown about care- 

 lessly in our yards, when the cattle do not drop it uselessly 

 in the fields. The heaps, which are often made in holes, or 

 hollow places, where the stagnant water prevents putrefac- 

 tion, are permitted to be poached and irodden by our cattle^ 

 or still more firmly pressed together, by loads haled over 

 them; So that the air cannot be admitted to produce a 

 thorough iermentation, and by this means to kill the seeds of 

 the weeds, which are ru nously destined to be the pests of our 

 fields, and the destroyers oi our crops. 



