69 



of the original number, the year following ; and if the grass 

 is annually mown, the thistles will then be nearly de- 

 stroyed. In pulling up, we find that all the roots (which 

 are from six to eighteen inches long), are shoots broken off 

 from roots, running horizontally a great depth in the earth. 

 The broad, or what with us is called the pod- thistle, not 

 having a tap-root, is easily pulled up with a docking-iron, 

 and is thus destroyed. The growth of this kind of thistle 

 is an indication of poor land : not so the growth of the 

 other kind. No thistle on a farm should be suffered to run 

 to seed, if it is possible to prevent it. Many persons think 

 that when the thistle-down flies about, the seed has dropped 

 from it. I much doubt if it is so, and therefore am careful 

 not to let any thistles go to seed, either in my fields or 

 hedges, and to keep a look-out that none mature in the roads 

 adjoining my farm. If every shoot is spudded up as soon 

 as it appears above ground, it will much tend to get rid of 

 them, for no root can flourish in the earth, without having 

 communication with the atmospheric air. 



DRAINING. Where it is wanted, it is useless to think 

 of entering on other improvements of the land. A complete 

 knowledge of the art of draining is not wanted to carry off 

 what is merely surface water ; but the water that lies deep 

 in the earth, and only rises to the surface in particular parts 

 of the field, requires the skill of a scientific drainer, so that 

 no greater length of deep, and consequently expensive 

 draining is made, tlran is absolutely necessary. Sir C. M. 

 Burrell, Bart. JV1.P. New Shoreham, has informed me of the 

 surprisingly great improvements that have been made on 

 his estates by Pearson's 1> raining Plough. All particulars 

 relating to it are fully detailed in a pamphlet, written by 

 Thomas Law Hodges, Esq. M.P. West Kent, which is to be 

 had at Ridgway's, Piccadilly, London. 



A most effective surface draining has been accomplished 

 on Lord Spencer's estate, at Wiseton, in Nottinghamshire, 

 by means of an eight-horse power steam-engine. Five 

 hundred acres of swampy meadow land, lying on both 

 sides of a river, and lower than the bed of it, bearing only 

 coarse aquatic grasses, of little value, not worth more than 

 fifteen shillings an acre to rent, now become worth full five- 



