4 WEEDS. 



ing the original stock. By the operations of ploughing, 



harrowing, and rolling — first to cause the weed-seeds 



to start into growth, and afterwards to kill the young 



weeds — many farms which formerly were a nest of 



seed-weeds have been brought into such order that 



the weeds are kept under subjection, and are easily 



managed. 



• • • t ■ 



Certain weeds in meadows betray a want of drain- 

 age — such, for instance, are the Sedge grasses. Hassock- 

 grass or Bull-Snouts {Aira ccespitosa), Water Dock, 

 Wild Forget-me-not, &c. Others show poverty in the 

 soil, such as Ox-eyed Daisy, Sorrel, Eibgrass, Cowslip 

 and Common Daisy when in quantity. 



Plants coming under the head of weeds, whether 

 growing in poor or rich soil, not alone take up space 

 we should rather have occupied by the crop, but they 

 appropriate the most valuable part of its food: they 

 impede the due growth of the crop by cramping and 

 confining it ; they clog the ground mechanically ; they 

 keep air and Light from the young seed ; they delay 

 the processes of harvesting and stacking, and make the 

 work more expensive. 



It will in some measure illustrate the loss caused 

 by weeds to quote the results of an experiment which 

 demonstrated that the difference in produce of an acre 

 of wheat that had been weeded over that of an acre of 

 wheat that had not been weeded was 4 J bushels ; and 

 that the same process applied to oats showed a gain of 

 I o bushels on the weeded acre, and applied to barley 

 showed a gain of 1 5 bushels. 



Bearing in mind the immense loss caused to the 

 country at large by the prevalence of weeds, it is not 



