228 AMERICAN AGRICULTURE. 



plants which are rejected by other animals. Whatever es- 

 capes the maw of sheep, should be extirpated by the hand or 

 hoe before seeding. The utmost care, also, should be used 

 in the selection of seed, and none sown but such as has been 

 entirely freed from any foreign seeds. 



T/ie Canada thistle is the only weed which has taxed the 

 ingenuity of vigilant farmers in effecting its removal. This 

 is however within the power of every one, who will bestow 

 upon it a watchful attention for a single season. The plant 

 should be allowed to attain nearly its full growth, or till it 

 comes into flower, when it has drawn largely upon the vital- 

 ity of its roots. If the patch be large the plow should be used 

 to turn every particle of the plant under the surface, and let 

 the hoe or spade complete what has escaped the plow. If 

 the patch be small, the hoe or spade should be used to cut off' 

 the crown of the root, and if in blossom, let the tops be burnt 

 to prevent the possibility of any of the seeds ripening. As 

 soon as the tops again make their appearance above ground, 

 repeat the plowing or spading, and continue this till the mid- 

 dle of autumn, when the land will be free from them, and in 

 fine condition to yield a crop of wheat. If they harbor in 

 fences or walls, these should either be removed, or the this- 

 tle followed to its roots, and kept constantly cut into the 

 ground, when it will not long survive. 



FIBROUS COVERING OR GURNEYISM 



Is the name given to the practice, (conspicuously brought 

 into notice recently by Mr. Gurney of England,) of covering 

 grass lands with straw or any similar vegetable matter. It 

 has received the sanction of many eminent agriculturists 

 abroad ; and for the purpose of throwing every improvement 

 before our readers which may possibly benefit them, we sub- 

 join the following from an article on the subject, in the Bri- 

 tish Farmer's Magazine for 1845. "The fact of a remarka- 

 ble increase of vegetation from fibrous covering has now been 

 fully confirmed by numerous and careful experiments. In 

 every instance where the relative quantities of grass were 

 cut and weighed, that operated on by this agency showed an 

 increase of six to one over that of other parts of the fields 

 without manure, and of five to one above that where guano, 

 farm-yard manure, wood ashes, or pigs'-house dung had been 

 applied against it. The quantity of hay obtained from the 

 grass was in the same ratio ; the mean of the results from 

 different farms, shows that a ton and a half was obtained 



